The Cardinals can no longer afford to ignore Jose Fermin

The go-ahead two-run double laced down the left field line in the St. Louis Cardinals' 4-2 win in Pittsburgh on April 27 was the latest of Jose Fermin's mounting exploits, yet over the past few seasons, the Cardinals have continually tossed him aside. Since joining the team in 2023, Fermin has been an ancillary piece for the Cardinals, playing in just 109 games over that span. His struggles in his first two seasons have given way to significant improvement since 2025, but the Cardinals brass may be the last people to take notice.

In 2023 and 2024, Fermin sputtered to the tune of a .189 average and a .504 OPS, but in 2025, albeit in just 70 plate appearances, he hit .283 and owned a .793 OPS. So far this season, through 34 plate appearances, Fermin is hitting .276 with a .782 OPS. One of Fermin's top assets is his exceptional batting eye. He had an 11.4% walk rate in 2025, placing him in the top 15% of players with at least 70 plate appearances, and he also holds a preternatural feel for making contact, swinging and missing at only 5.7% of pitches last season. That ranked in the top 4% of hitters. Fermin's launch angle sweet-spot percentage is only 17.4% so far this season, but in 2025 and for most of his time in the minor leagues, he ran a sweet-spot rate around 35%, which is slightly above average.

The numbers that may be giving the Cardinals pause on providing Fermin with more playing time are his exit velocity and ability to hit the ball on the screws. At 87.1 mph last year, Fermin's average exit velocity placed him in the bottom quartile of hitters, as did his 29.4% hard-hit rate. But in 2025, Fermin changed his approach to minimize the negative effects of a lack of thump: He hit the ball in the air more often, going from 38.3% of balls hit in the air in 2024 to 60.8% in 2025, and he's among the best in the league at pulling fly balls, with a 23.5% rate in 2025 and a 34.8% rate so far in 2026.

The Cardinals have to find playing time for Fermin.

These stats paint a picture of a Cardinal whom manager Oli Marmol should plug into the starting lineup far more often than he currently does. Fermin has only played in left field and center field thus far in 2026, but in prior years, he also served as a second baseman and third baseman. The Cardinals are expected to reinstate Lars Nootbaar from the injured list on May 24, which will crowd the outfield situation, but Fermin may have a shot to carve out a role in center field if Victor Scott's struggles continue. One obstacle to that: Nathan Church, who is on a hot streak at the plate but whose suspect plate discipline could ultimately doom him.

Fermin may need to return to the infield for the bulk of his time on the diamond, but with JJ Wetherholt entrenched as the team's second baseman of the present and future and Fermin lacking the power that teams traditionally desire in a third baseman, options appear scant for Fermin even with incumbent third sacker Nolan Gorman not performing up to snuff at the plate.

Fermin may not hold a sky-high ceiling, but he could give the Cardinals some valuable production out of the bottom of the order if the team is able to find a spot for him on a semi-regular basis. It would have been easy to dismiss Fermin as organizational filler after his first two seasons of mediocrity, but the statistics suggest that he's found something, and it would behoove the Cardinals to figure out exactly what they have in the Ferminator.

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