History proves that this Cardinal prefers the top of the batting order

Career numbers overwhelmingly indicate that Matt Carpenter means the most to the St. Louis Cardinals as a leadoff hitter.

Perhaps, then, it wasn’t surprising that Carpenter was back on top of the order Wednesday after hitting third in eight consecutive games with Matt Holliday possibly out for the season.

Carpenter homered in his first at-bat against Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets, his third leadoff homer of the season and the 12th of his career. The Cardinals won 8-1 as Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty also homered.

Carpenter batted .219 (7-for-32) in the No. 3 spot this year and owns a career .242 mark in that role with a .663 OPS. As a leadoff hitter, Carpenter has batted .299 with an .880 OPS.

“It’s obviously stood out over time how great of an at-bat he takes at the top of the lineup,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “I’m convinced that if he continues to hit three that you’ll see the same thing. We were on a good roll there as a club and while maybe he wasn’t having as much offensive success as he’s accustomed to ... Trying to get him right, I think, is very important for our club, and we’ll see if the top of the order can help with that.”

While the numbers indicate Carpenter might also have an elevated degree of comfort in the leadoff spot, Matheny is certain Carpenter wouldn’t subscribe to that theory.

“I know exactly what he’ll say, (that) he takes the same at-bats every single time,” Matheny said. “I think it’s also our responsibility as a staff to try and figure out what we’re doing, what it looks like when we do it and how can we make adjustments.”

Grichuk’s growth

After going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts Sunday in the Cardinals’ 9-0 victory in Philadelphia, center fielder Grichuk homered and hit another ball hard Tuesday in a 7-4 loss to the New York Mets. Grichuk is batting .231 with 17 home runs and 46 RBIs.

Matheny said Grichuk, 25, finally is showing an ability “to let things go, which is part of that process with young players.”

“I think he’s trusting himself, he’s trusting the process,” Matheny said. “That’s where he is in his career right now — figuring out the process of what an at-bat should look like. The results will be there if you don’t give up on the process. ... The talent he has is going to eventually produce. He’s an exciting player.”

Grichuk twice this summer has been optioned to Class AAA Memphis, a huge slice of humble pie for a player of whom so much was expected.

“He needed — and he’s not going to like me saying this — a couple trips to Memphis,” Matheny said. “That’s just part of the learning curve. That’s never fun, and I know he’s hoping that never happens again. But he learned things about himself that he probably wouldn’t have been able to here.”

The Cardinals will learn whether they can enter 2017 with Grichuk in the middle of their plans. Had Holliday not suffered a broken right thumb, Grichuk might still be in Memphis.

“Where we were earlier in the season, we didn’t have the freedom to just let him play,” Matheny said. “We had other guys who were earning those opportunities. It’s just worked out now, mostly with Holliday going down, that it’s created more opportunity for Randal and for us to say it’s time to let him go.”

Wong in waiting

Second baseman/center fielder Kolten Wong has made just six starts in August and his role with the Cardinals remains unclear, at least for this season. Carpenter and Jedd Gyorko have been getting the majority of the time at second base, with Grichuk in center.

Like Grichuk, Wong was optioned to Memphis, spending 12 days there in June. But Wong hasn’t yet fired, although he closed July with a three-game flourish in Miami.

“Kolten is still searching his way through (things) because there is a whole another player still in there,” Matheny said. “That is frustrating for him, because he knows it’s there. It’s frustrating for us because we want him to get there and we can’t necessarily bypass the things that he needs to learn to get there. It’s a process. He’s improving, and he’s growing, and he’s going to get there.”

Wong is batting .238 with two homers and 14 RBIs. He’s 7-for-17 (.412) as a pinch-hitter, which likely will be his role for the remainder of the season. It’s not what the Cardinals envisioned for him when they signed him to a five-year, $25.5 million extension in March.

“I think he’s still figuring it out,” Matheny said. “I think there is a progression for most players, and I think Kolten falls into that. He could be a player that hits for a good amount of power. I think that’s probably in the progression. I think that’s down the road a little bit. First of all is just taking those quality at-bats.”

Wacha improving

Pitcher Michael Wacha is on the disabled list with a recurrence of the scapula issue that sidelined him for much of the 2014 season.

Wacha hopes to begin playing catch this weekend or next week and intends on returning this season.

“I’ve been feeling good, and it’s been healing up quick for me,” Wacha said. “Hopefully, that keeps going and it keeps feeling better and better each day. I’m definitely very positive about where I am and the future.”

Wacha has mainly been resting the scapula. He’s just now beginning to exercise his shoulder and could return to the club as a reliever.

“I haven’t talked to them about anything like that,” Wacha said. “I’m up for anything. I just want to get back and help this team as much as I can.

“I’m going to keep working my tail off, try to get it strong back there so it can hold in place. It’s something I’m going to have to overcome.”

Wacha has talked to Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Brandon McCarthy, who has been plagued by a scapula injury six different times in a career that began in 2005.

“My agents have talked to him as well,” Wacha said. “He explained (to them) what he went through as well. He said he went through six times where it kept on recurring, and one year it just never came back. He threw 200 innings and has felt good ever since — until he blew out his elbow. There is definitely some optimism looking forward there.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 7:24 PM with the headline "History proves that this Cardinal prefers the top of the batting order."