St. Louis Cardinals Randal Grichuk: Showing Signs of Life

Randal Grichuk has struggled this season for the St. Louis Cardinals, but has been better since rejoining the team after being demoted. Should fantasy owners give him another chance now that he is looking like what everyone expected?

Each and every fantasy season, there are always players that have all makings of being a “breakout” or “must have” option in drafts. Heading into 2016, Randal Grichuk, seemingly was an unanimous fantasy darling as big things were expected from him after a great 2015 campaign. But, so far things have not gone as smoothly as everyone had hoped, and Grichuk actually found himself being demoted.

The Cardinals have been renowned for having the ability to find or produce players that can step right in and allow the team to not miss a beat. Grichuk was a first round pick by the Angels in 2009, but eventually found his way to the Cards in 2014. He he shown consistent power throughout the minors, but his AVG would routinely fluctuate.

In 2015, he was able to secure a starting role after St. Louis was hit with a myriad of injuries. All he did to repay the club was post a, .276/17 HR/47 RBI/.877 OPS, line over 103 games. His power stroke was on full display once again, and most fantasy pundits had him penciled in for a potential 30+ HR contributor heading into this season. There were some concerns, especially with his 110 K last season, but fantasy owners were willing to take the gamble for the power numbers.

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Randal Grichuk never got going though, batting .189 in March, .253 in May, and .114 in June. The Cards stayed as patient as they could with him, but he eventually played himself out of being a starter. With only eight homers this season, fantasy owners were not even able to get the bare minimum value out of Grichuk either, causing most to drop him even before he was sent to AAA.

Like with Kolten Wong before him, St. Louis turned to AAA as a way for their struggling young core pieces to somehow work through their issues. Grichuk’s stay in AAA seemed to be undetermined as the Cards had other options available to slot in the OF, but an injury to Brandon Moss reopened the door for him.

During his short stint in AAA, Grichuk was able to review his swing and tinker with it to the point where it mirrored how it looked in 2015. While it is a small sample size, since his return on July 5th, Grichuk has already notched three hits. Another encouraging sign, is that he looks more comfortable at the plate, and has started to show the opposite field ability that anchored his success last season.

Grichuk is more than likely available in most leagues, offering astute fantasy owners the chance to buy low on a potential tremendous second half breakthrough. He has reworked his swing, and it has shown already, forcing fantasy owners to take notice.  For those fantasy owners that have a spot available or maybe even just a player who has been underwhelming at the backend of their roster, taking a gamble on Grichuk is well worth it.