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The St. Louis Cardinals have exploded past expectations. They got off to a hot start, led by their youth movement.
And while many have expected them to cool off, they're still rolling, much to the frustration of other teams in the NL Central.
While they don't have incredible team offensive stats, they are efficient with the bat in their hands. They grind out at-bats, get runners on, move them over, and do well with driving those runners in, as they are fourth across MLB in terms of sacrifice flies.
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Cardinals rise in power rankings as hot prospect looms in Triple-A
Last week, the Cardinals took on the San Diego Padres in a three-game series where they won two of the three games. They then turned their attention to the Kansas City Royals, but had a difficult time getting anything going.
They went on to lose the weekend series 1-2. However, that didn't hurt them much in the power rankings as Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter has bumped them up three spots from No. 13 to No. 10.
"Despite their early success, the youth movement is still in full effect for the Cardinals, with four rookies finding their way into the regular starting lineup in recent weeks. It might not be long before outfielder Joshua Baez joins them, as he has a .957 OPS with 24 home runs in 66 games at Triple-A."
Reuter questions just how much longer the club's No. 3 prospect Joshua Baez will be in Triple-A. He is currently on a tear down there, mashing the baseball left and right.
But the outfield is healthy, and the front office would have to figure out a system where he could get some good looks while not completely disrupting Jordan Walker, Nathan Church, and Lars Nootbaar, who have had a good hold of this outfield, and a reason for the team's success.
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