The best- and worst-case scenarios for each player on the St. Louis Cardinals' active roster

These are the realistic best-case and worst-case scenarios for each player on the St. Louis Cardinals’ 26-man roster and three on the injured list.

After a Spring Training that saw several unexpected breakouts, the St. Louis Cardinals have pared down their roster to 26 players for Opening Day. Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Taylor Motter, Steven Matz, and Jake Woodford were among the most impressive performers at Spring Training, and they have all made it onto the roster. Masyn Winn was another standout, and while he will return to the minors for more development, he has likely accelerated his ascent to the major leagues.

The Cardinals had a few underperformers, including Dakota Hudson, Juan Yepez, and Andrew Knizner. Hudson and Yepez will begin the season in Triple-A and should serve as reinforcements, while Knizner will hold his incumbent job as a backup catcher, fending off new competitor Tres Barrera.

The other major position battles were for the starting outfield jobs, which Walker has played his way into, and a backup middle infield gig to replace the injured Paul DeJong, which went to Motter. 

Now that the 26 players have been chosen, it’s time to speculate on what the realistic highest and lowest outcomes are for each player on the roster as well as the three players who are starting the season on the injured list. A small disclaimer: I won’t be using injuries as the worst-case scenario for any players because those are the worst outcomes for any player and feel like a cop-out.