St. Louis Cardinals Jhonny Peralta: Top-10 Shortstop in 2016

Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta finished as a top-12 shortstop last season. Not much has changed in the offseason and he will do it again this year.

The St. Louis Cardinals won 100 games last season and won the National League Central for a third straight year. The team lost some of its key players, but the core remains. One of those core players was shortstop Jhonny Peralta, who was the second-best hitter on the team. With the lack of depth at the position, Peralta could finish in the top 10 this year. 

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Jhonny Peralta spent seven and a half seasons with the Cleveland Indians and three and a half with the Detroit Tigers. He played over 1,300 games and hit 156 home runs, 698 RBI and .268. He then signed a four-year deal with the Cardinals.

He had a good first season with the Red Birds, playing in 157 games with 21 home runs, 75 RBI and .263. He had a 0.52 BB/K ratio, 37.6 fly ball and 12.4 HR/FB rates. He finished 15th in the NL MVP voting. While some numbers went down, he made some improvements in 2015, especially in the first half.

He played in 155 games and had 64 runs scored, 159 hits, 17 home runs, 71 RBI and .275 average. He finished second on the Cardinals in home runs and RBI and third in batting average. Before the All-Star break, 87 games, Peralta had 13 home runs, 46 RBI and .298. The time off cooled Peralta down as he hit just .243 with four home runs and 25 RBI. Regardless of the drop off in the second half, he was the 12th-best shortstop in the league.

Jhonny Peralta dropped his strikeout rate to 17.3, but his walk rate also dropped 1.4 percent. His fly ball rate dropped 6.4 percent, his ground ball rate rose 4.7 percent and his line drive rate went up 1.7 percent. Peralta’s medium hit rate went up six percent while his soft and hard hit rates dropped.  He did record 12 more hits than 2014 and his first triple since three seasons.

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Jhonny Peralta comes in as my No. 10 shortstop for 2016. The position is pretty shallow, but Peralta is still hitting the ball well at 33 years old. This Cardinals team is one of the oldest in the league, 13th in the league in 2015. However, Peralta hitting in the middle of the St. Louis will be able to put up top-10 numbers. He is draftable in standard leagues as a late-round pick.

Projections: 140 hits, 15 home runs, 69 RBI, .265 average.

Draft: Round 18