Every Team's Most Interesting Player: St. Louis Cardinals, Tommy Edman

This is the 26th in a series of articles about the most interesting player for fantasy owners on each team heading into the 2020 season. We are going alphabetically, so today we’re going to talk about Tommy Edman of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Edman is a multi-positional asset in fantasy currently going No. 141 overall, but his skillset could be the key to him providing much more value than that in 2020. He’s not much of a power hitter, but over 92 games (349 plate appearances) last season he showed he can deliver a high batting average and plenty of stolen bases, two categories fantasy owners lust for. Edman slashed .304/.350/.500 with 11 home runs, which is serviceable, and 15 steals. He’s projected to be an everyday player this season, and he was hyper efficient on base paths so 30 swipes are within reach.

Right now, the biggest issue for Edman is opportunity. He’s projected to bat eighth for the Cardinals, which would depress his plate appearances and run scoring. Ideally, he’d be hitting leadoff in front of guys like Paul Goldschmidt and Paul DeJong, but for now it appears the Cardinals are content to keep Dexter Fowler in that role. That projection might be a blessing in disguise, however, as Edman is definitely talented enough to play his way into a more prominent role in short order.

Edman has consistently been at .299 or higher since 2018 in Double-A, maintaining a high average and BABIP through Triple-A and into MLB. His base stealing has been present since Rookie ball in 2016 – 19 steals in 66 games, and he swiped 27 bags in 109 games at Double-A. Edman ranked in the 97th percentile of sprint speed last season, which should ensure that he maintains his high BABIP numbers. He’s also a very good hitter. He posted a 40.7% ground ball rate, which isn’t a bad thing for a light hitter like him, and a 24.7% line drive rate. Typically fly balls are great, but not when you lack the muscle to consistently put it over the wall. Edman’s approach is to put everything in play – 82.6% contact rate – and let his legs do the rest.

There isn’t superstar potential here, but he can play three positions and offer 15/30 with a .280+ batting average. He also may hit his way to the top of the lineup, where he’d become a very useful source of runs.