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Who will be the surprises of Spring Training and Opening Day

Caleb Van Grack
Published February 17, 2021

Back during the 2019, National League Championship Series between the Cardinals and the Nationals, the father of a young boy, tweeted that his son was bullied at school in Maryland for being a Cardinals fan.

His tweet caught the attention of Adam Wainwright, who tweeted to the young man named Caleb:

The tweet caught the attention of Cardinals Nation, and Caleb caught our attention as well. Caleb asked if he could try his hand at sportswriting this season, and we said YES!

My name is Caleb Van Grack. I am 11-years-old, I belong to Temple Shalom in Maryland and I have been a Cardinals fan since I was 3, but I’ve never lived in St. Louis. My dad, Adam Van Grack, went to school in St. Louis and passed on his love for Cardinals baseball to me.

I have gone to Jupiter, Florida to see the Cardinals in Sprint Training every year since 2016, but due to the pandemic, I will not be able to attend Spring Training this year. I have instead spent some time reviewing the players who are at Spring Training which began this week, and created a list of what I think the Opening Day Roster will look like.

I have selected 5 starters, 8 relievers, 2 catchers, 6 infielders, and 5 outfielders to start for the Cardinals on Opening Day. I have also selected 5 players who I think will do better than everyone expects.

Nolan Arenado will be one of those players who come to the Cardinals and do better than they did on former teams. Arenado will be playing with Paul Goldschmidt and has a great infield around him. The Cardinals are also very supportive of their players and will make him feel welcome.

Dylan Carlson hit very well with all of his minor league teams, and he performed great in the playoffs last year. He will finally have a full year on the Cardinals, and I think he will perform even better than his expectations in both offense and defense.

Kwang Hyun Kim (KK) was an excellent starting pitcher in Korea, and he was one of the team’s best starters last year after his attempts as a reliever. I think a full year as a starter with the Cardinals will show his full potential as a great pitcher for the Cardinals.

Ryan Helsley is a young pitcher who has a lot of potential. I think he will become an incredible relieving pitcher, even better than he has been the last 2 years. I think his strike outs will increase this year.

Evan Mendoza will be one of the surprises in Spring Training, and selected to the Opening Day roster because he has really good infield defense.

OPENING DAY ROSTER

CATCHERS

Yadier Molina 4

Andrew Knizner 7

INFIELD STARTERS

Paul Goldschmidt 46

Tommy Edman 19

Nolan Arenado 28

Paul DeJong 11

INFIELD RESERVES

Matt Carpenter 13