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Cardinals Positional Outlook: Shortstop

Paul DeJong registered a 3 fWAR and the Cardinals are counting on him to repeat his breakout rookie campaign. Behind DeJong, depth seems thin but there are dark horse shortstop candidates on the horizon.
St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong (11) looks to throw to first to complete the double play on a ball hit by San Diego Padres catcher Hector Sanchez during the eighth inning at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

By Jon Ince, from Cardsblog.com

Now that we've covered the right side of the infield, let's move over to the right side and check out the Cardinals outlook at shortstop for 2018 and beyond. Here's our latest edition in the Cardinals Positional Outlook Series:

This Season

DeJong will start at shortstop for the Cardinals when they open the season in New York on March 29. The lack of a potential MLB shortstop in the Cardinals AAA affiliate further locks DeJong into the lineup.

At the start of 2017 season, DeJong started for the AAA Redbirds as a newly converted SS from third base. The move up the defensive spectrum was due to a lack competent shortstops available, not exceptional defense at 3rd. When the Cardinals demoted Aledmys Diaz, DeJong got his opportunity.

Cardinals Positional Outlook: Third Base - Cardsblog

Third base for the Cardinals in 2018 looks to be held down by Jedd Gyorko for the third year in a row. After batting .272 with 20 home runs last season, he will look to improve on those numbers in the coming year.

On the surface, DeJong’s 2017 slash line of .285/.325/.532, good for a 122 wRC+, is exceptional and cause for optimism. However, as we dig deeper, we see that his numbers were buoyed by a .349 BABIP which compensated for his 28% strikeout rate.

Those factors create a xwOBA (a predicted wOBA based on quality of contact) 39 points lower than the wOBA value he produced in 2017. This would indicate some regression for him offensively in the coming year. However, the projections still peg him as league average offensively, which is great for a shortstop.

Defensively, DeJong has surprised most pundits and played above average defense at the shortstop position. The projections say that he will again play slightly above average defense in the coming year. The re-addition of infielder coach, Jose Oquendo will hopefully aid DeJong in improving a position he has only played for one year professionally.

Cardinals fans should be excited to have the NL rookie of the year runner-up play shortstop this year in Paul DeJong, and the organization looks for him to build on his 2017 performance.

Two Years in the Future

It would sad to see DeJong fall by the wayside, but it has happened before to Cardinal rookie shortstops. Most recently, Diaz was a 2016 all-star but now he is a depth piece for the Toronto Blue Jays.

DeJong would be only 26 and entering the prime of his career while still being firmly under team control contract-wise. Injuries are always a concern, and play performance can dip radically, so what do the Cardinals have on deck?

With Diaz dealt to the Blue Jays, the only Memphis Redbirds who has a meaningful amount of innings at the position is Yairo Munoz who basically split time between shortstop and 3rd base last year for the Athletics minor league affiliates.

Munoz put up a solid year at the plate in 2017, registering a 140 wRC+ in AA and an 86 wRC+ in AAA. Throughout his career, he has always moved upon his wRC+ upon returning to the level he struggled at. So expect Munoz build upon his 86 wRC+ and push it above the league average of 100 in 2018. In two years, he will be 25 and building upon a very solid approach and performance at the plate.

Cardinals Positional Outlook: Second Base - Cardsblog

For Part III of our Cardinals Positional Outlook Series, we're moving on to Second Base. Here are our articles from Tyler Brandt on the Catcher Outlook and from Aaron Schonfeld on the First Base Outlook. Kolten Wong is going to be the everyday second baseman for the Cardinals.

Munoz’s defensive profile at shortstop, not his bat, would be the component of his game to keep him from an everyday role. He has an exceptional arm and first step, but he lacks the range shortstops usually possess. The range criticism was also said for DeJong so hopefully Munoz can overcome that just as DeJong did.

As it currently stands, Munoz projects to be a quality, bat first, utility infielder. If he can improve his range at shortstop, perhaps he could stick there in two years.

Five Years in the Future

The name that first comes to mind is Delvin Perez. He was, by most accounts, a top 10 draft pick talent wise who fell to the cardinals at pick 23 in 2016 after Perez tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Perez was always regarded as a defense first shortstop with the potential to be very special. However, as a professional, he has made far too many throwing error for the defensive specialist pundits expect him to become. His range however, remained exceptional.

Offensively, Perez struggled mightily and failed to add much mass to his lanky frame. Blessed with tremendous speed, Perez will never need to be a slugger in order to succeed. However, his .039 isolated slugging for the Johnson City Cardinals was too low to be effective.

Perez remains the first player I am writing about here because his talent defensively is not a commodity that comes around often, especially for perennial contenders like the Cardinals. Additionally, in 5 years Perez will have just celebrated his 24th birthday. A combination of his youth and potential makes him still the future for Cardinal shortstops.

The second name I would like to add here is the player I am personally most excited to see perform in the minor leagues in 2018, Ramon Urias.

The Cardinals signed the (as of 2018) 23 years old shortstop out of Mexico this offseason. He has been playing in Mexico’s highest league since he was 19 years old, and in his most recent season he recorded and outstanding 1.010 OPS.

The Mexican league has been equated to about the same level of competition as AA baseball stateside. The expectation is that Urias will start the 2018 season in AA Springfield.

Urias is primarily viewed as a bat-first shortstop, but with more defensive potential than Munoz. The Cardinals seem to have made a handful of transactions regarding players from the Mexican league this year. I am extremely excited to see how the players, specifically Urias, will play. If Urias lacks the arm to play shortstop, he could have the potential to slide over to second base as well.

Cardinals Positional Outlook: First Base - Cardsblog

Ever since Albert Pujols left in 2011 the Cardinals have not had a permanent player to man first base. Pujols was a god in a Cardinals uniform, and the Cardinals have never had a first baseman who has had the same impact on and off the field.

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