COMMENTARY | The St. Louis Cardinals have one of the most potent offenses in Major League Baseball and have for the last few seasons. Beyond the starting eight players, there are very few hitters that strike fear into pitchers late in a game.

Meet Matt Adams.

At six-foot, three-inches tall and 260 pounds, it is easy to mistake Adams for a visiting player from the St. Louis Rams instead of the first base prospect that he is. His imposing frame gives a glimpse into what he brings to the team: power.

The bench for the Cardinals became barren of power at many times last season. Outfielders Shane Robinson and Adron Chambers became frequent answers for a pinch-hitting assignment late in the game. Once on base, these outfielders could wreak havoc with their speed but in key, run-producing situations, it was hard to be confident in the chance they gave the team.

Adams is just the opposite. A large man that is surprisingly agile, Adams has a smooth, left-handed swing that will spray the ball to all fields. More importantly, Adams swing is custom made to lift the ball over every fence in the ballpark. His gap power yields many doubles which will make a combination of late-inning pinch-hit assignments for him while providing pinch-running assignments for players like Robinson and Ryan Jackson.

Read more about Matt Adams’ potential impact with the Cardinals by clicking here.

The only position the St. Louis Cardinals and general manager John Mozeliak knew would be unsettled for certain entering spring training was second base. And now nearly a month later, it is a situation that is still sorting itself out. However, it’s not doing so because of injury or lack of options, rather it is doing so because of the positive performance of the three primary players in the picture. Matt Carpenter has made a smooth transition to the position in the field, while incumbent Daniel Descalso has risen to the occasion with at bat to justify his already superb glove work.

All the while, top prospect Kolten Wong has put up a consistent effort that has even further solidified the fact that his second baseman of the future tag is legit. Yet there are still questions to be considered, mainly who will see the majority of the play at the position in 2013, as well as what is in the system beyond just Wong.  Is there true depth, or just a few name recognition properties? And how does this project the three-to-five year picture at a position the team has long struggled to have a consistent presence at?

St. Louis: The position entered the spring has a question mark, and has quickly turned into a win-win proposition. Both Descalso and Carpenter have performed well at the position, and have made a legitimate time split at the position a strong possibility this year. Carpenter has hit over .400 in the spring, while showing a consistent glove and throwing ability at his new position. Descalso on the other hand has stayed consistent in the field while making some adjustments to his swing that has seen him hit .292 through 16 games thus far in camp.

With both in the fold there is a chance for a variety of dominoes to go into play because of what having one or the other in the everyday lineup means. Carpenter has an impact at third and first base, as well as the outfield. He was the team’s best regular bench bat a year ago, and putting him in the everyday lineup does change both the versatility of the club off the bench, both in the field and at the plate. With Descalso in reserve, it gives the club a viable defensive upgrade in late game situations across the infield.

Yet moving ahead, the distinction of Cardinal second baseman most likely doesn’t involve either in a full-time capacity, as Wong has begun to make it clear his established role as middle infielder solidifier is legit.

High Minors: Wong will open the season at Triple-A Memphis despite a strong effort this spring thus far in Major League camp. He has swung the bat at a .292 clip through 16 spring games, and has displayed the range of talents that could make him factor into the picture by late in the summer. Whether he is pushed through to St. Louis this year before September has as much to do with his play (which has been an even .300 through his first two pro seasons) as it does with how the Carpenter/Descalso split works out. Getting him regular at-bats is an established point of emphasis for the team, as is continuing to evolve his defense.

After Wong, the system gets a bit more questionable at second base. Jose Garcia could factor into the picture every day at Springfield. The 24-year-old hit .260 while splitting time behind Wong and Greg Garcia at Double-A Springfield last summer.

Low Minors: Breyvic Valera reached Springfield last year after playing the majority of the year at Low-A Batavia, where he hit .316 for the year as a 19 year old. He could either play ahead at Springfield again this season, or start at High A Peoria this spring. In addition to him, the presence of Starlin Rodriguez (.315 average at Palm Beach in 2012), Ildemaro Vargas (.314 average across Rookie to High-A a year ago) and 10^th round pick Jacob Wilson all will factor into the picture at the lower levels of the organization this season at second.

Prognosis: It’s an interesting situation developing at second base in the organization currently. While the lower minor league rungs of are sorting themselves out now with the ascension of Wong nearly complete, it is a position that definitely has both a secure future plan that is playing out as consistently as could be hoped.

With Carpenter potentially providing an everyday boost to the lineup offensively and Descalso being a plus defender, there is a real chance for Mike Matheny to “ride the hot hand” at second this season. In the immediate, Carpenter has continued to hit at his expected level, and the fact he has taken to the position so quickly in the field may be giving him the edge currently. But the plus that Descalso gives in the field cannot be taken lightly, especially in the light of Rafael Furcal being permanently out of the equation. The insertion of Wong into the St. Louis scene by next spring (at the very latest) assures that the second base role in St. Louis, as well as the domino rally created from it, is far from over.

As a guy who has lacked in home run power over the beginning of his career in Kansas City, Billy Butler, has taken the bull by the horns this season setting a new career high in home runs only 111 games into the 2012 season.  Butler is on pace to become the first Royal to hit 30 home runs in a season since Jermaine Dye did it in 2000. A 12 year drought could be broken by a player who for most of his young career has been criticized for not having enough power for not only his stature but also his position being designated hitter.

The power has changed from double to home runs this season mainly because instead of relying on his upper body to do all the work at the plate Butler has worked hard to get his legs stronger over the last 9 months and using them at the plate has equated into more lift on balls that are now carrying over the fence instead of bouncing off of the warning track.  One stat that has not been given enough credit was his ability to hit the double.  Trailing only New York Yankee second basemen in doubles since the beginning of the 2009 season, Butler has 158 two baggers, according to Baseball-Reference.  That is an astounding number that seems to have been pushed away because they are not turning into home runs. Everyone believes that if you have to power to hit that many doubles then you have the power to hit home runs. It does not work that way because it is not about the power or strength but the swing that the hitter has.  Over the first parts of his career Butler seemed to not lift the ball when it was needed and would use a more level swing that resulted in line drives in the gaps instead of towering fly balls into the stands.  But until the last two season Butler simply was not supposed to be the guy who hit the ball over the wall and gave the team the offensive lift they need. He has been asked to be a hitter and a hitter he has been.  But now he needs to continue to show the power he has shown so far in 2012.

On pace for 34 home runs this season two shy of the club record of 36 set in 1985 by the powerful Steve Balboni. The amount of home runs is not what stands out the most in the case of Butler.  The fact that he recognized that as the hitting leader of this team the best way to do that is lead by example.  In the off season he saw that he needed to work on his weakness of strength in his lower body which would help get more lift on the baseball and turn doubles in the gaps into home runs into the seats.

The philosophy that both Butler and hitting coach Kevin Seitzer have taken in the 2012 sea on seems to be working not only in the power department but a continued success to all fields for Butler. His doubles have gone down but that is what happens when the ball that were hitting the fence are now traveling over the fence.  To ask a guy to hit 30 home runs for the first time in his career and continue a pace of 47 doubles per year for the last three seasons would be outrageous.  The statistic that continues to slipped the minds of critics of Butler is the fact that the man is only 26 years old.  By comparison to other designated hitters of past that people would like to see Bulter become Edgar Martinez did not hit 30 home runs in a season until he was 37 years old.  he did flirt with 30 home runs in 1995 which still was when he was 33 years old.

Comparing the two a bit more in Martinez’s first 6 seasons in the major leagues he hit 91 home runs, 204 doubles, with 381 RBI while having a batting average of .290.  Now Butler in his first six seasons, which as of right now is 13 at bats less than Martinez had at this point in his career, has hit 97 home runs, 203 doubles, with 445 RBI and a batting average of .298, according to Baseball-Reference. If Butler continues to improve on an already good beginning to his career and progresses faster than Martinez did in Seattle than the Royals could have a once in a lifetime statistic wonder on their hands.

Everyone knew that Butler was going to be a hitter but hitters do not alway produce.  Having a guy that is going to consistently flirt with a three hundred average which never seems to dip under .290 nor exceed .315 is something that can be found anywhere but having that same guy perform with the production that Butler has shown in just six years is priceless.  He started out as two eggs over easy with a side of toast and now has turned into a full country breakfast.  But over the season to come all we can do is wait and see if Butler can become the Thanksgiving dinner to lead the Royals to success in September and beyond.

If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that Kansas City Royals first basemen, Eric Hosmer, was more of a sure out than Chris Getz was at the plate, I would have not only called you crazy but down right out of your mind.  But, like a lot of things in life times do come that people are wrong.

Now I was on the side of people that thought Hosmer would go through a little bit of a sophomore slump but nothing to this magnitude.  It just does not make sense to me anymore why he is slumping so bad for so long.  I mean even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile but he is not even close.  For the first few weeks of the season, everyone was saying that he was hitting into hard outs and that it would come around but lately all he has done is roll over pitches and ground out to the right side of the infield.  The problem that I had with this analysis was the fact that he was still getting out.  Now when a guy hits the ball hard in his first at bat of a game you might say that he is on this guy and has a chance to do something later on in the game but Hosmer is not doing that.  His power throughout a game diminishes as the night goes on.  And the bigger problem with the “Atom” ball argument is the fact that he is not doing that anymore. He is getting to far in front of his swing with his hands, making his timing way off therefore, grounding out in most of his at bats.

Now, that being said, I do believe that Hosmer will come around this season I just think that that will have to be accomplished in a way that fans nor Hosmer want it to.  Either he has to become the first option off of the bench to pinch hit or he needs to be sent down to AAA.  There are two problems with sitting him for a couple of games.  One, he will not be getting enough at bats to maybe swing himself out of a slump and two, when he does get those at bats he is going to press even more than he may already be pressing.  Now the other side of things would be to send him down.  This could work one of two ways in Omaha.  It could either send his confidence straight to the basement or it could get his confidence back in his swing and back into major league like form.  The likelihood of the Royals actually sending Hosmer down are pretty slim.  Nothing says it is not “Our Time” like sending one of the cornerstones of your future team down to the minors to figure things out.  Or they could take their medicine and send him down and say to not only Hosmer but to current and future Royals that the ceiling a player has is not the most important thing in the game.  Baseball, like I say all of the time, is all about results and results are not coming out of Hosmer at all right now.

This all being said, I am not too down on the guy because I look at the player that he may be one day and want it for him just as much as any other fan.  No one wants to watch a guy fail time after time at the plate.  But if this continues over the next week or two the Royals are going to have a big decision on their hands when it comes to putting Hosmer in the lineup night in and night out.