Shortstop has been a bit of a revolving door for the Cardinals since Ozzie Smith’s retirement.
Over 20 years, from 1997 through 2016, the redbirds had 22 different players log innings at short. Two others have been added to that list since then, but one of them has already made quite the mark.
After just two shortened seasons, Paul DeJong now sits second in total fWAR for Cardinal shortstops since 1997.
His single season performances rank as the fourth- and fifth-best by fWAR in that time frame, behind two years of prime Edgar Renteria and Jhonny Peralta’s excellent Cardinal debut.