Well done, Paul DeJong

The shortstop was previously left for dead. He fought hard to come back.

Paul DeJong must have gotten used to minor league baseball again. At a certain point late last year, he had tabulated more action with the Memphis Redbirds than he had with St. Louis in the past couple seasons. The shortstop had entered the Jason Heyward zone of swing adjustments and retools, and Cardinal Nation didn’t let up with their wrath.

Gosh, we were mean to the guy! The Cardinals had given him a premature contract after a quick explosion following his call-up, but that’s not his fault. What would you say if your boss offered you six years of financial comfort to play in a baseball cathedral? We’d say yes without even thinking twice about the potentially mean souls who fill the pews in those sports churches.

The reality is sports fans lean hard on high-paid athletes to inflate their daily mood. A rite of passage as old as the game itself hasn’t lost any ferocity over the years, gaining some in the past ten years with the social media breakout. They perform, and all is well. They fail, even in the midst of maximum effort, and there will be a riot on the radio, internet, and anywhere that houses Cards talk.

2023 has left the haters mystified. After 12 games and 43 at bats with Memphis and Palm Beach last month, DeJong took his first pitch from Major League pitchers on April 23. He pummeled Seattle that evening for three hits, including a home run. He’s blasted four more homers since then, including a game-changing one last night to help St. Louis take a series from division-leading Milwaukee. All of his 2023 long balls have made a dent, producing more crooked numbers than solo events.

It’s surprising because by now, 43 at bats after arriving, his bat would be deflating. One could look at his batting average in the last seven games (not pretty), and easily miss the scorecard-flipping theatrics. As Bernie Miklasz noted on Scoops with Danny Mac, DeJong’s defense is allowing the team to be fluid with their lineup and infield.

At his best, DeJong adds power and defense to a baseball club. Don’t overthink it past that checkpoint. Forget maintaining the .900 OPS; just toss up something close to .785, and keep hitting extra base hits. Outside of the high-paid Nolan Arenado (red hot right now) and Paul Goldschmidt, everyone else can just play a part. If this is Pulp Fiction, those two guys are John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. Nolan Gorman is making a play for Bruce Willis, because his ass doesn’t go down in the fifth.

DeJong isn’t exactly Eric Stoltz, but he’s definitely Harvey Keitel. A wolf who retaught himself how to hit. Playing professional baseball is hard enough. This guy made another attempt to salvage off another year down south. Granted, Memphis food and music is awesome, but the gleam of Cardinal red reigns supreme. We know it, and so does he.

Confidence breeds rebirth. It can be like a medicine from out of nowhere to a player who isn’t quite a young player, but not quite an old guy. DeJong turns 30 in August, signifying a time in a big leaguer’s life where identity has to be in possession. Make six million dollars a year and produce in the Midwest, where you already have a built in audience of lovers and haters. It doesn’t change anywhere else.

At the moment, the roses are red in DeJong’s life. All of that could change any week, or maybe it won’t. He’s got a few more months of baseball before definition becomes a requirement.

I’ll take the consistency. DeJong has five home runs this year; seven if you include the minors. He hit six in 210 MLB at-bats in 2022. Improvement in this game comes in baby steps.

Keep on stepping, Pauly. Only the weak adjusters die young in this game.

Photo Credit: Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports