In lieu of an offseason move, who bats cleanup and plays left field for Cardinals?
With less than a month remaining until pitchers and catchers are due to report to the team’s spring training complex in Jupiter, Florida, the St. Louis Cardinals lack an answer to two questions with intertwined answers.
Who’s playing left field? Who’s hitting cleanup?
Assuming no players are brought in from free agency or the trade market, the answer to both questions may be Tyler O’Neill.
The Cardinals have been intentional this offseason in clearing spots to provide opportunities for players they have in house, and O’Neill stands out as the piece of the puzzle that has perhaps the most major league experience and the least left to prove at lower levels.
“The trade that we had to Tampa was a big move, I think, in my opinion,” O’Neill said Saturday. “We gave up two really good guys (Randy Arozarena, José Martínez) and there’s going to be other guys like me that are going to have to step up and fill those holes.
“I’m coming down to spring with the intent to win that job and I’m going to do everything I can to.”
Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said that he’s comfortable with the organization’s internal options, even as he largely demurred when asked about available free agents or trade opportunities.
“Internally, we want to see some things that change in terms of how we think about our preparation and execution,” Mozeliak said. “But, obviously getting to the Final Four last year with this club, and looking at how we did it, you can understand why some of us feel like there’s some upside and reason for the excitement for that club.”
Perhaps the most important thing O’Neill can do to provide himself with that opportunity is prove that he can stay healthy over a full season. He missed time with injuries to his right elbow and left wrist in 2019, and 2018 dealt with two separate groin injuries.
“I’m doing everything I can from adjusting my diet to adjusting my training regimen, everything to stay on the field this year,” O’Neill said. “That’s a big goal of mine. I don’t want these things to happen anymore.”
His prodigious power has appeared in the big leagues in fits and starts, stunted in part by an alarmingly high strikeout rate. While the changing game has made whiffs both more frequent and more acceptable, O’Neill’s solution for resolving his lack of contact is eloquent in its simplicity.
“Stop swinging at balls in the dirt, maybe,” O’Neill said with a smile. “That’ll be a good start.
“Getting the limited at bats I’ve had the last couple years I just want to get up and I want to hit. I want to prove my worth. I need to take a step back sometimes and realize it’s good to walk. It’s good to let the other guy behind me take the torch, do something for the squad. It’s all maturity. I’m growing every day. I’m trying my best here. I think that there’s going to be some big changes this year.”
Whether it’s O’Neill or others like Lane Thomas, Justin Williams, or top prospect Dylan Carlson, the Cardinals will need a player to emerge and seize the opportunity presented by the assumed departure of Marcell Ozuna.
Ozuna provided 29 home runs and an .800 on-base plus slugging percentage in 2019; he and Paul Goldschmidt were the only two Cardinals to be with the team for the full season who crossed that threshold.
“I think the improvement has to be internal,” Mozeliak said. “I think the improvement comes from consistent opportunity and I think the improvement comes from individuals. When you really want to dissect that, it’s not that complicated. How many players performed at their level of expectation? Two? So you can easily imagine that getting guys back to their norm is realistic.”
O’Neill’s norm is an open question. His 14 home runs in only 293 career Major League plate appearances suggest that his power is fully developed. In parts of three seasons at Triple-A, he’s blasted 68 homers in 884 at-bats; that’s precisely one every 13 at-bats.
He also appeared throughout the year on MLB’s leaderboard for sprint speed and plays better-than-adequate defense in the outfield corners. And yet Fangraphs, in projecting the 2020 season, anticipates that O’Neill will be worth only 0.7 wins above replacement; Ozuna projects for 3.1.
It’ll be up to O’Neill to seize the opportunity to prove others wrong.
“The limited at bats and limited reps I’ve had over the last couple years have made me antsy, have made me want to prove my worth again,” O’Neill said. “I want to show management, want to show the guys that I belong.
“I have the ability to play in this league and excel in this league. It’s my job to win the job. I have to play in spring and i have to out-perform the other guys, and I believe that I can do that.”
