Ranting About a Redbird

-

    The title of this post has a double meaning, as I will be looking at Paul DeJong. DeJong is currently playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, and just so happens to be an Illinois State University Alumni. Which would make him two times the Redbird. Unfortunately, I am not happy that Paul DeJong represents either, as he is one of the St. Louis Cardinals' biggest disappointments, and hopefully, you will understand this after reading the information below. 

    In 2019, Paul DeJong was an All-Star. Although his stats weren't too impressive from the season when it came to batting average and on-base percentage, he did hit 30 home runs, which was good enough to get him this recognition. However, since this 2019 season, he has been almost unplayable. Yet, he is still somehow playing, and playing all too often. 

    I'm not going to give him too much grief for his performance in 2020, as that was the shortened COVID season, and nothing went as planned for the MLB. None of the players got to train the way that they typically would, and players didn't really have the chance to truly get going. However, DeJong cannot get out of his dreadful performances in 2021 and 2022 with the same excuse. 

    In 2021, DeJong was horrible, awful, and dreadful. He was the guy on the team who would really kill a rally and would actually receive boos from the Cardinals faithful. This is because he hit for a terrible average of .197, with a disgusting on-base percentage of .284. His only saving grace was his above-average glove, and the 19 home runs that he hit. However, these two things can only do so much for the failing shortstop as he continues to struggle in the current season. 

    In 2022, DeJong's struggles were made extremely clear as the Cardinals sent their "All-Star" shortstop down to the minor leagues to work on his play. While he did find some success in the minors during his stint in AAA Memphis, he has yet to find success in the majors. This can be seen by his terrible batting average of .158, as of September 6th. To go along with this, DeJong isn't even hitting for power at the major league level, as he did in 2019 and 2021. This makes him an almost useless player on the Cardinal's roster, as they have multiple guys who can play the shortstop position that can hit circles around DeJong. 

    If DeJong does not figure out his problems by the end of this season, or during Spring Training in 2023, I hope to never see him in a Cardinals uniform again. Especially since this offseason will give the Cardinals the chance to make an upgrade at this position, and we have a young shortstop, Masyn Winn, who looks to have a very bright future. 

    I hope you guys understand where my frustrations are coming from and note that I am by no means rooting against Paul DeJong. I truly hope that he figures everything out and can find success. However, the way things have been looking lately, this is not likely. So, if Paul DeJong does not figure it out, who do you think should play shortstop for the Cardinals following this season and beyond? 

Information/statistics retrieved from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dejonpa01.shtml 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zac Gallen & Sandy Alcantara - The Cardinals' Biggest Regrets

-
     Within the Cardinals community, one topic that has been rather prevalent in the last few years is, "What if the Cardinals never traded for Marcell Ozuna?" This question is of importance as the Cardinals gave up both Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantara, for two injury-plagued seasons from the streaky left fielder. Gallen and Alcantara are now two of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and could absolutely fix the Cardinals pitching problems. While Marcell Ozuna is no longer on the team and doing very little for the Atlanta Braves, with his most notable actions coming off the field and involving legal trouble.      At the time of this trade, the Cardinals saw no problems in their offerings and were excited to get a Gold Glove left fielder with MVP potential. However, this is not what they received, and they ended up giving up much more than they initially believed. The Cardinals traded two future aces for an average player, who could not field and would lea...
Read more

Will There Be 700?

-
    St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols is arguably one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time. He has a resume that is packed full of accolades and will certainly be finding himself in the Hall of Fame when it is all said and done. However, there is some unfinished business that he hopes to take care of before this happens. This involves Pujols hoping to become the 4th person in Major League Baseball history to hit 700 home runs. As of September 9th, 2022, he is only 5 away from doing so, but with just 23 games left in the Cardinals season, will he be able to reach 700?        In the last couple of months, Pujols has been one of the better hitters in all of baseball. He has shown the power that he has not been able to show for multiple years and looks like he has gone back in time. However, as he is only really finding success against left-handed pitching, and the league is dominated by righties, it is hard to say how many more chances he w...
Read more