St. Louis Cardinals Roster
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St. Louis Cardinals outfield prospect Nathan Church was an 11th-round pick in the 2022 draft. The UC Irvine product has terrific bat-to-ball skills and should continue to showcase both contact and power throughout all levels of the minor leagues. He's also swiped some bags. However, he does have some limitations defensively and could be bound to left field long-term. Nevertheless, Church continued to make a name for himself last week, going 9-for-25 with two homers, eight RBI, six walks, and a stolen base. As he has done for his entire career, Church showed terrific plate discipline, adding just two strikeouts to his ledger over last week's six-game span.
St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Alec Burleson is out of the lineup on Wednesday with the team facing left-hander Jordan Montgomery and the Arizona Cardinals. It's no surprise, as Burleson will continue to ride the pine when the Cardinals face a southpaw. With the 25-year-old out and Jordan Walker being optioned to Triple-A Memphis, Brendan Donovan is in left field and hitting leadoff, while rookie Michael Siani gets the nod in center field and will bat ninth. With Walker in the minors for a bit, Burleson's fantasy stock in deeper leagues is going up, as he should play more regularly against right-handers now. The former second-round pick in 2020 out of East Carolina is still searching for his first home run in 2024 while batting .255 (13-for-51) with two RBI and two runs scored.
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras (hand) is back in the team's lineup on Wednesday, serving as the designated hitter and batting second against Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Jordan Montgomery. Ivan Herrera is doing the catching and is hitting fifth. Left-hand soreness caused the Cardinals to lift Contreras from Tuesday's game early, but manager Oliver Marmol said the decision to pull Contreras had more to do with the lopsided score. Still, the 31-year-old veteran's hand issue is something to keep an eye on. It hasn't affected him at the plate so far, as he's currently hitting .292 (19-for-65) with three home runs and eight RBI in 19 games. He's gone hitless in eight career at-bats against Montgomery, but fantasy managers in single-year leagues need to get him back into their lineups.
St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker has been optioned to Triple-A Memphis on Wednesday. The former 21st overall pick in 2020 will head to the farm after opening the 2024 campaign with a weak .155/.239/.259 slash line with no home runs, four RBI, six walks and 18 strikeouts in 67 plate appearances over 20 games for the Red Birds. The 21-year-old will surely be back in St. Louis at some point, but he's going to need to work on some things in the minors first. Brendan Donovan is in left field and hitting leadoff on Wednesday, while rookie Michael Siani is in center field and batting ninth against Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Jordan Montgomery. With Walker now in the minors, Alec Burleson and Ivan Herrera could see some more playing time in the outfield moving forward.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Steven Matz got rocked in Tuesday's loss versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. The left-hander tossed 4 1/3 innings and got hit hard for six hits, seven runs and three walks. He also had four strikeouts on the evening. Matz has really struggled to open the 2024 campaign and has allowed 16 runs (13 earned runs) over his last three outings. He has also failed to get past 5 1/3 innings on the season. Matz has a lot that needs to be figured out and can be avoided in all formats, even with a favorable matchup against the Detroit Tigers to begin next week.