A Quick Word: Why exactly is Paul DeJong still starting for the Cardinals?

The hitting experiment results aren't good at all.

Even Jeff Albert’s elaborate, extensive, and utterly (supposedly) brilliant hitting philosophy can’t help poor Paul DeJong. The reports of his demise have NOT been greatly exaggerated.

If he didn’t know how to field and throw a baseball so well at shortstop, he would already be in Memphis working on his swing and improving. Instead, he’s started off 2022 by hitting .127. In 63 official at-bats (at the time of this writing), DeJong has eight hits. One home run and 21 strikeouts.

Through 29 games, DeJong has given the Cardinals 0.0 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) via Fangraphs. That’s zero value above the next possible guy waiting in line, or Edmundo Sosa. Tommy Edman, a shortstop in college who won a Gold Glove at second last year, could slot to SS and bring his 1.4 fWAR across second base.