JUPITER, Fla. • The Cardinals won’t be using a designated hitter anymore in National League exhibition games this spring, with the first exception coming on Wednesday when lefthander Jaime Garcia will bat against Atlanta at Lake Buena Vista. They will continue to use the DH in games at spring training sites of American League teams, such as on Thursday at Lakeland against Detroit and on Saturday at Fort Myers against Boston.
Manager Mike Matheny said he liked having the DH in Florida “just to get guys more at-bats. We can have a guy get his swing together without having to play defensively and we get to see more of the young players with the DH.