The offensive black hole in the Cardinals outfield continues to get larger

You will be hard-pressed to find anyone disappointed with the way the St. Louis Cardinals have kicked off the 2026 season. With the entire talk of the offseason built around how the organization was going to go through a painful year, but the first month has been anything but for the Cardinals. Jordan Walker has been on the receiving end of national attention, but has his performance just been covering up the glaring hole in the rest of the outfield? After Victor Scott II had to cover for Walker defensively, the right fielder has now taken over with the bat and the glove so far this season.

What Walker has done so far this season is impressive, regardless of who was producing this way, but when seemingly all of the fanbase had given up on his future potential, it makes the story all the more impressive. His surge was needed, too, after taking a look at how the rest of the lineup, specifically the outfield, has been producing in 2026. Center field was never truly in question this year, with Victor Scott II being the obvious choice for the majority of the reps. The only actual open competition during spring was in left field, especially after Lars Nootbaar went under the knife on both heels, but Nathan Church, Jose Fermin, and Thomas Saggese all held off Nelson Velázquez's surge for the Opening Day roster.

Victor Scott II's struggles may open up a tough conversation for the Cardinals.

When Victor Scott II was promoted to the big leagues straight from Double-A and fresh off his .303 batting average and 94 stolen base season, there was plenty of excitement for what he could bring on both sides of the ball. Unfortunately, Scott is entering his third season in the majors, and the offense has gone in the wrong direction despite his elite speed being on full display. He has now played in over 200 games but has totaled a wRC+ of 65 and his trademark speed has given him 42 stolen bases. After finishing as a finalist in the Gold Glove award last season, even his defense has taken a step back in a year where he needed to show progress with the bat.

Through Scott's first 21 games this year, the offense has been paltry despite his offseason work attempting to find his swing. It is almost impossible to determine if that has been successful because the speedy center fielder already has five sacrifice bunts (four with runners in scoring position), which is the top of the major league bunt leaderboard. Hooray. Based on his updated Stacast numbers, he is making hard contact just 20% of the time and has a grand total of zero barrels. If he paid the witch doctor to rework his swing, he should get a refund. The strikeout rate is troubling, sitting around 24% for someone who is unable to make up for the lack of contact with his other offensive tools. The old saying goes "You can't steal first base," and that limitation is severely hindering Scott's ability to be a quality major league player. "But the defense."

Ahhh, yes. The defense. As stated earlier, he has fallen from otherworldly with the glove to being simply above-average. When compared to another speedy, sure-handed, left-handed outfielder on the Cardinals roster, VSII actually compares pretty evenly to Nathan Church, someone who has not gotten the same amount of playing time love from the fans despite being a near carbon copy of the incumbent. With the top of the lineup masking the deficiencies of the rest of the roster, I am hopeful that someone will take charge of the center field spot with both the glove and the bat. Right now, nobody in Memphis is knocking down the door, so Victor Scott II is going to have to hold off the other 40-man roster players if he wants to prolong his stay in St. Louis.

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