The St Louis Cardinals Should Play Jose Fermin More, But Whatever
HOUSTON, TEXAS - APRIL 18: José Fermín #15 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrates with teammates after hitting a home run during the sixth inning of the game against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on April 18, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images) | Getty Images While the Cardinals on offense have been all but miracle workers so far, surviving very slow starts by Ivan Herrera and Masyn Winn, and a bottom of the order that often includes the far below league average hitting of Pedro Pages, Nathan Church, and Victor Scott II (not to mention Nolan Gorman still not living up to his potential).
There have already been attempts to alleviate this bottom of the order problem, but Thomas Saggese can’t hit either, apparently. To be fair Herrera has been the victim of hitting it right at guys and just general bad luck (while walking a ton and getting on base the hard way through HBP), and Winn just was still warming up from spring training or slumping to start the season. The big surprise of the year has been Jordan Walker, who leads the team in WAR, home runs, and RBI.
Burleson, Gorman, Wetherholt, and Herrera have joined in the RBI fun as well. Surely the Cardinals haven’t been winning just because the top 4 batters in the order are getting on base a ton? Not everyone gets on base a lot but the outfield defense with guys like Victor Scott II, Nathan Church, Thomas Saggese (who has some good defensive numbers so far), and Jose Fermin plus Jordan Walker’s arm in right… Add to that the best defensive second baseman so far in MLB, JJ Wetherholt, and the elite defense and arm of Masyn Winn, plus Nolan Gorman and Ramon Urias saving even more runs over at the hot corner, and effective catching… you’re just going to keep yourself in some games this way.
Has anyone noticed Gorman has saved a couple of runs so far on defense? But you didn’t see that one coming. He’s defending better than Urias but not hitting as much.
Gorman is starting to turn it around, slowly, on offense. His BABIP against is pretty low too. What Cardinals have played in the most games?
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