{"id":548529,"date":"2026-02-01T02:44:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T02:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/548529\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T02:44:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T02:44:39","slug":"can-the-cardinals-solve-their-outfield-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/548529\/","title":{"rendered":"Can the Cardinals solve their outfield woes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a black hole <\/a>primarily as \u201ca celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

It also offers three alternative definitions: \u201csomething that consumes a resource continually\u201d; \u201can empty space: void\u201d; and \u201ca dark and seemingly inescapable state or situation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Those three alternatives sure seem to also sum up the St. Louis Cardinals’<\/a> outfield production.<\/p>\n

Since the glory days of peak Matt Holliday, the three outfield spots in St. Louis have been a revolving door of missed expectations, underwhelming prospects, and a lack of overall production. <\/p>\n

A glance at the WAR leaders for each of the outfield spots over the last ten years requires a stiff bourbon nearby. <\/p>\n

Since 2015, Tyler O\u2019Neill\u2019s 6.4 WAR is the highest a left fielder has posted in that time. O\u2019Neill, of course, never even came close to replicating those numbers. Second among left fielders is Tommy Pham\u2019s 6.3 in 2017. I\u2019m a lifetime member of the Tommy Pham fan club (and a never-ever member of his fantasy league), but that season represents a third of his career WAR. After Pham, Brendan Donovan\u2019s 2024 WAR of 2.6 leads the pack.<\/p>\n

Sadly, left field is probably the best of the bunch.\u00a0 Since 2015, Harrison Bader\u2019s 4.1 WAR in 2021 tops all center fielders, with Lars Nootbaar close behind for his 3.3 WAR in 2023. I\u2019ll give you $10 if you can guess who takes third. Give up? It was Randal Grichuk, with 2.6 WAR in 2016. <\/p>\n

And somehow, right field is even worse. Jason Heyward provided hope with his 7 WAR season in 2015, but, even had he stayed with the Cardinals, that number was likely a mirage. You have to drop all the way down to Dylan Carlson\u2019s 3.2 WAR in 2021 to find your runner-up. <\/p>\n

So yeah, black hole. Some of this can be chalked up to tragedy, with the sudden death of Oscar Taveras, who sure looked like he\u2019d be a star. I still find myself pulling up a video of his first home run in his debut game as rain fell on Busch Stadium. <\/p>\n

But so much of it can be chalked up to failed prospects, failed free agent signings, and failed expectations. Stephen Piscotty, Tyler O\u2019Neill, Peter Bourjos, Dylan Carlson, Jordan Walker, Dexter Fowler, Marcell Ozuna, and the list goes on and on. New faces, new prospects, same lack of production. <\/p>\n

And it isn\u2019t like 2026 is shaping up to be much better. Lars Nootbaar, your projected left fielder, looked like he might be the one to finally solve part of the outfield riddle, but his inability to stay healthy has pumped the brakes on all expectations.\u00a0 Victor Scott II certainly provides excitement with his defense and speed, but the jury is still out on whether he can put the offense together in center field. And we all hope Jordan Walker finally turns the corner this year out in right, but we\u2019re not holding our breath. <\/p>\n

But maybe, if you squint hard enough, there\u2019s some optimism around the corner.\u00a0Joshua Baez, the Cardinals\u2019 second-round pick in 2021, took a huge leap last year. Across High-A and Double-A ball, Baez hit .287\/.384\/.500 with 20 homers and 54 steals, and he\u2019s now a mainstay on industry top 100 prospect lists.\u00a0 Yes, we\u2019ve been down this road before with outfield prospects. But Baez looks like he could be the real deal. <\/p>\n

Perhaps Ivan Herrera joins him as a corner outfielder? With so many catching prospects already in the system, the Cardinals could go back to last year\u2019s brief experiment and ensure Herrera\u2019s bat plays every day as a corner outfielder.<\/p>\n

Those two, plus the elite defense of Victor Scott II? That\u2019s an outfield one can dream on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a black hole primarily as \u201ca celestial object that has a gravitational field so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,673,67,4311,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-548529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-st-louis","12":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","13":"tag-stlouis","14":"tag-stlouiscardinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115993081432216305","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}