How the Cardinals' can save the development of each of their young bats

The Cardinals need to do a better job of giving their young bats the right opportunities while trying to win games

1. Dylan Carlson
2. Juan Yepez
3. Brendan Donovan
4. Tyler O'Neill
5. Alec Burleson
6. Jordan Walker

If there's anything that's seemed to unite the fanbase about the St. Louis Cardinals this season, it's an agreement across the board that the way they have managed their young position players has been odd at best.

Jordan Walker made the Opening Day roster and was supposed to be "here to stay", but as things got hard for both him and the club, they sent him down. Dylan Carlson was a valuable piece for the Cardinals all offseason, and yet he's mostly been a fourth or fifth outfielder this year. Tyler O'Neill was called out for effort, Alec Burleson has gotten a lot more opportunities than expected, and Juan Yepez is sitting in Triple-A.

That's starting to become a theme with the Cardinals' infielders as well. Paul DeJong is back from the IL and is basically an everyday player now with his resurgence. Tommy Edman has been moved back and forth between shortstop and second base because of this. Brendan Donovan now doesn't play nearly as much as he did before, and Nolan Gorman, despite being their best hitter this year, doesn't play versus lefties.

How the Cardinals should go about it moving forward is where fans will continue to disagree though.

I do think there are some pretty clear decisions the Cardinals can make here soon to help clear up the logjam some more and help both their chances of winning games and the development of their young guys. If the Cardinals are not careful, they could stunt the growth of a lot of players.

Here is how I would handle the young position players so that they can continue to grow as players and the Cardinals can start winning more ballgames.