The St. Louis Cardinals have demoted 2017 National League Rookie of the Year runner-up and 2019 NL All-Star Paul DeJong to Triple-A, according to Katie Woo of The Athletic.
DeJong has started the 2022 campaign ice cold, going 10-for-77 with one home run and seven RBIs across 24 games played. DeJong has collected three stolen bases, but has walked just seven times against 25 strikeouts.
The Orlando, FL native was selected by the Cardinals in the fourth round of the 2015 MLB June Amateur Draft and finished his rookie campaign in 2017 with 25 home runs, 65 RBIs, 119 hits, 26 doubles and a .285/.325/.532 slash line across 417 at-bats covering 108 games. DeJong finished only behind Cody Bellinger in that year’s NL Rookie of the Year race.
After a 19-home run, 68-RBI season in 2018, the 28-year-old upped his power game in 2019, finishing with career highs in home runs (30), RBIs (78), hits (136), runs scored (97) and doubles (31). DeJong was also one of the better defensive shortstops in the sport that year, wrapping up the season with the second-highest defensive WAR in the NL (3.1).
Following the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, DeJong struggled across 356 at-bats in 113 games last year, posting 19 home runs, 45 RBIs and an anemic slash line of .197/.284/.390.
