But that face is not so familiar anymore as Pujols has moved on to the sunny skies and high tax rates of Southern California. The departure of Pujols could have had new Cardinals manager Mike Matheny a dilemma on who to bat third moving forward.
Matheny had plenty of qualified candidates to choose from. Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman both returned from last season's team and general manager John Mozeliak added Carlos Beltran, who has hit third nearly his entire career.
But Matheny told Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the decision was pretty easy. Matt Holliday was his guy.
"Sabermetricians and traditional baseball tells you that's where you want that guy. I'm really excited about putting him there. I've told people that I don't think St. Louis has seen the best of Matt Holliday yet. This guy is an amazingly talented player. I'm expecting great things from him this season."Holliday has been a great hitter his entire career no matter where he hits in the lineup. But he does seem to perform a little bit better in the three hole than he does in the fourth spot. Holliday has a higher batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage while hitting third.
| I | Split | G | HR | RBI | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting 3rd | 324 | 67 | 243 | .322 | .397 | .565 | .962 | |
| Batting 4th | 583 | 105 | 404 | .315 | .395 | .538 | .932 |
It is good to see that Matheny has been able to make this decision rather quickly. Why let the ghost of Albert Pujols wander any longer than it needs to?
Matheny has squashed it and made Holliday his guy.
Maybe Matheny is right. Maybe St. Louis will finally see what Matt Holliday can really do now that he is in the spotlight of hitting third for the St. Louis Cardinals.
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