The St. Louis Cardinals are an American baseball team from St. Louis, Missouri. The team competes in Major League Baseball (MLB). It is one of the oldest and most successful professional baseball clubs in the country.
The Cardinals have won 11 World Series Championships and hold the second spot in MLB, after the New York Yankees. The Cardinals have also won 19 National Leagues and 14 division titles in the East and Central division.
Let’s take a look at some of the key players that make the Cardinals baseball team so successful.
Yadier Molina
Yadier Molina, the Puerto Rican baseball catcher, is the pride of the Cardinals. Nicknamed “Yadi”, he is considered one of the greatest defensive catchers of all time.
Winner of six Fielding Bible Awards and nine Rawling Gold Gloves, he is also a two time World Series Champion and a four-time National League Champion.
Molina has played his entire 16-year career in the MLB with the Cardinals. He has also played four World Baseball Classic Tournaments for the Puerto Rican team. Molina is a right-handed batter and thrower, famed for his exceptional defense strategy.
With 130 defense runs saved and 845 assists, he ranks as the second-best catcher of all time. With the 38-year old’s contract due to end next year, fans hope to see at least two more years of play from this iconic catcher.
Paul Goldschmidt
Goldschmidt plays at first base for the Cardinals baseball team and is a designated right-handed hitter.
Nicknamed “Goldy”, he made his MLB debut with Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011. He has won the Gold Glove Award, the NL Silver Slug Award, and is a six-time MLB All-Star champion.
Recruited from Woodlands High School in Texas, he played for the Texas State Bobcats. He was picked up by the Diamondbacks in 2009. The Diamondbacks traded him to the Cardinals in 2018.
In 2019, Goldschmidt signed a five-year contract extension with the Cardinals for a whopping $130 million, the largest deal in the team’s history.
Matt Carpenter
Matt Carpenter, playing as an infielder for the Cardinals, has a .269 batting average, 148 home runs, and has batted 533 runs. Having joined the Cardinals in 2011, he is a three-time All-Star and NL Silver Slug Awardee.
Carpenter has been the primary lead hitter for the Cardinals since the 2013 season. He is a right-handed bowler and left-handed batter.
In 2018, Carpenter had the highest percentage of batted balls in the MLB at 49% and the lowest ground ball percentage amongst all MLB hitters, at 26.4%.
He is all set to roll for the 2020-21 season.
Jack Flaherty
Jack Flaherty, a 24-year-old pitcher, made his mark in the MLB early in his career. He is a right-handed batter and thrower, with a win-loss record of 20-19, 439 strikeouts, and an earned run average of 3.19.
He was drafted in the Cardinals baseball team for the first round of MLB in 2014, making his MLB debut in 2017.
In 2019, Flaherty became the third-youngest pitcher in baseball history to strike out 230 and walk 55 with 2.75 ERA.
He was then nominated for the Golden Glove following his successful 2019 season.
Dexter Fowler
Fowler, Cardinal’s outfielder from Atalanta, represented the United States at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing where they won the Bronze medal.
Fowler throws right-handed and bats switch. He has a batting average of .260, 124 home runs, has batted 503 runs, and stolen 153 bases.
He started his career with the Colorado Rockies in 2008, moving on to the Houston Astros in 2014.
He then went on to play with the Chicago Cubs before joining the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017.
Bottom Line
With the roster out for the 2020 season, the Cardinals baseball team is set to be at a great advantage with seasoned players and new prospects alike.
They are all out to take down their rivals and are arguably one of the best baseball teams in history.