Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Paul DeJong May No Longer Have A Spot In St. Louis

Originally posted on The Cold Wire | By Curt Bishop | Last updated 6/15/22

It’s been just over a month since the St. Louis Cardinals were forced to send a struggling Paul DeJong down to Triple-A Memphis.

However, things have been looking a little bit better for DeJong down in Memphis lately.

He’s turned it on as of late.

In fact, in his last 12 games, he’s hitting for a slash line of .333/.375/.896/1.271 with eight home runs.

It may not be much longer before we see him back in St. Louis again.

But one Cardinals fan on Twitter made an interesting point, explaining that there might not be much of a role for DeJong with the Cards anymore, thanks to the emergence of Brendan Donovan.

Paul Dejong last 12 games:

.333/.375/.896/1.271 8 HRs

He looks back on track. The problem is there isn't a starting spot for him anymore and I'm not sure you want to bring him up now to sit the bench.

— Cardinals Stats And Facts (@STL_Stats_Facts) June 13, 2022

The Odd Man Out

DeJong may have already been squeezed out of a spot with St. Louis.

If you’re the Cardinals, you don’t want to take Donovan or Nolan Gorman out of the starting lineup with the way they’ve been hitting.

DeJong would of course strengthen the bench, so it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have him with the big-league club, especially with the struggles of Edmundo Sosa at the plate.

But at the same time, it’s not like it’ll be easy to get him regular at-bats.

There’s always the possibility that DeJong becomes a trade chip for St. Louis at the deadline.

If he keeps hitting, then other teams could be interested in him and maybe the Cardinals would consider moving him to get what they need when the deadline comes.

There just isn’t really a clear-cut role for DeJong anymore with the Cardinals.

His early season struggles pushed him out of the starting shortstop job in favor of Donovan, and the Cardinals would be silly to take the latter out of the lineup.

This article first appeared on The Cold Wire and was syndicated with permission.

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