Paul DeJong made his 11th straight game at shortstop for the Cardinals on Friday night, his 20th start of the season after beginning the year on the injured list.
In his previous 20 games (19 starts) he’d gone 20-for-71 (.282) with nine extra-base hits, including six home runs. The veteran right-handed hitter and former All-Star began the day with the fifth-most home runs of any shortstop in MLB despite half as many at-bats at the other leaders.
DeJong spent most of the offseason as well as a large chunk of this spring working to retool his hitting mechanics with an emphasis on simplifying his swing, minimizing movement and getting him into a hitting position more quickly.