In March 2017, following an off-season in which long-time St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday went to the New York Yankees after the Cardinals did not exercise their 2017 option for his services, and in which 2015 trade deadline acquisition Brandon Moss similarly departed via free agency (in his case, to the Kansas City Royals) with little-to-no effort from the Cardinals to retain him, the Cardinals were forced to explore options for outfield depth.
Because the team had signed Dexter Fowler to play center field, 2016 center fielder Randal Grichuk shifted to left field, but somebody had to be the backup plan.