Every club deals with position battles in spring training, but for the St. Louis Cardinals, this year’s camp features especially intense competition for roster spots.
After moving veteran infielders Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado, and Willson Contreras, the team opened the door for a wave of young players to compete for roles in St. Louis. Meanwhile, outfielder Lars Nootbaar is expected to start the season on the injured list, creating another opportunity in left field.
Sometimes, when there’s a roster crunch at the end of spring training, the players with minor-league options available draw the short end of the stick. And that could spell trouble for 23-year-old utility man Thomas Saggese, who the Cardinals still have high hopes for after he appeared in 82 games last year.
Is Saggese left with short end of stick?
On Saturday, MLB.com’s Will Leitch projected the Cardinals’ opening day roster and predicted that Saggese would begin the season with Triple-A Memphis, since he has two options and fellow bubble infielder José FermÃn has none.
“FermÃn has filled in anywhere and would seem to have a clear roster spot, which might crowd out Thomas Saggese, except both players have been getting outfield reps this spring,” Leitch wrote. “That Saggese has two Minor League option years left could lead to him beginning the season in Memphis, though the 23-year-old could change that with a hot spring.”
Entering play on Tuesday, Saggese was 3-for-9 with a double and two walks to begin spring training, so he’s certainly not hurting his case yet. But he’d likely have to keep up a similar pace or even raise his spring OPS a tick to change the calculus of the Cardinals’ decision.
Saggese was an on-base machine at Triple-A last year, but it didn’t translate to the majors. His OBP in 42 games for Memphis was .402, but in St. Louis, that number dropped to .299.
There’s probably nothing Saggese still needs to prove at the Triple-A level, but as the gap has never been wider between that competitive threshold and the majors, whenever he gets his chance to return to St. Louis, he’ll need to seize it.
