Jon Jay is Making a Case to Start for St. Louis Cardinals

St Louis Cardinals outfielder Jon Jay used to be the starting center fielder. He lost that job in Spring Training to Peter Bourjos, whom the Cardinals acquired from the Los Angeles Angels for David Freese. Although he had a terrible spring, Jay is making the most of his opportunities so far in this young season.

Jay does not have the speed or range of Bourjos. What he does have are reliability and durability. Jay holds the NL record for errorless games by a center fielder at 245. He has only one stint on the DL, when he injured his shoulder in 2012 running into the wall at Busch Stadium. He’s a somewhat streaky hitter, but he often gets clutch hits. In his two starts so far this year, he has two RBIs and they were key. Both times the Cardinals were behind and Jay’s hits tied the game.

Bourjos is getting off to a very slow start for his new team. Pitchers Adam Wainwright and Joe Kelly have more hits than he does. He has one error, although it was on a ball that Jay might not have gotten to. His speed on the bases will be exciting to see if he ever gets on. As the old saying is that you can’t steal first base.

It’s clear so far in this young season that Jay is not going to ride the bench without a fight. That’s a good attitude for him to have, because even more competition may be coming his way soon.


(rantsports.com)