MLB The Show 19: St. Louis Cardinals Player Ratings, Roster, Lineups, & Farm System

Established in 1882 as the St. Louis Brown Stockings, the Cardinals have been one of the most successful teams around. It took them a little while to get going, claiming their first World Series in 1926, but they were soon a serious force in baseball. They claimed another 5 titles in the ensuing 20 years, and their championship droughts have rarely been lengthy. They had a gap from 1946 to 1964, and then from 1967 to 1982, but even when they weren't winning World Series the Cardinals have often been winning games and sit 4th in all-time win percentage at .520 and have 45 Hall of Famers in their history.

Most recently the Cardinals claimed the 2006 and 2011 World Series titles under the guidance of Tony La Russa and with stars like the fearsome Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, and Chris Carpenter. St. Louis' last division title came in 2013 as the NL Central has become a far more competitive division. Can you help them rise to the top once again and push for a 12th World Series title?

*All stats correct at time of writing

Team Rating

MLB The Show 19 doesn't provide a single team OVR to compare ball clubs like other sports games. Instead you get a team ranking that gives you a placement within the Majors, while there are sub-rankings for various aspects of the game.

The Cardinals come in with a ranking of 5th. This is fueled by strong hitting ability, with a ranking of 4th in contact and 6th in power. They do have a lack of speed, ranking 26th there, and their defense is in the bottom half of the league with a ranking of 18th.

The Cardinals have a team budget of $191.5 million which is very good and gives you enough money to not have to make too many hard decisions, however you don't have the money to out-right compete for big free agents with the wealthiest of teams so you will still have to pick and choose your moments to go all-in on a player. So who are the players you will want to build around in St. Louis?

Paul Goldschmidt, First Base (93 OVR)

Age: 31

Throws/Bats: R/R

Contract: 5 years/$120.5 million

Secondary Position: None

Hitter Tendency: Whole Field

Best Stats: Discipline (99), Durability (97), Contact vs L (91), Clutch (80), Arm Accuracy (84), Power vs L (81), Contact vs R (78)

Paul Goldschmidt was an eighth-round pick for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2009 and got his MLB debut in 2011, playing 48 games with 8 homers and a .250 average. His breakout year came in 2013, when in 160 games he mashed 36 homers, posted a slashline of .302/.401/.551, picked up his first All-Star appearance, first gold glove, and came second in MVP voting. Goldschmidt would again be runner-up in 2015 after another sensational season and became one of the most reliable and productive hitters at the plate in all of baseball. He was traded to the Cardinals in December 2018 for several prospects.

In The Show 19 Goldschmidt is a terror against lefties (contact 91, power 81). His discipline (99) is superb and he has the durability (97) and clutch (90) ability to be there when you need him the most. He is also a good fielder (77) and has nice speed (58) for a first baseman too. He is a really good all-round player.

Marcell Ozuna, Left Field (92 OVR)

Age: 28

Throws/Bats: R/R

Contract: 1 year/$12.3 million

Secondary Position: CF, RF

Hitter Tendency: Pull Hitter

Best Stats: Durability (90), Clutch (87), Power vs L (78), Contact vs L (77), Power vs R (76), Contact vs R (75), Reaction (72)

Marcell Ozuna joined the Florida Marlins as an international free agent in February 2008 and got his MLB debut with them in 2013, playing 70 games with 3 homers and a .265 average. In 2014 he was an every-day outfielder for Miami and found some power, hitting 23 homers with a solid average. Ozuna won his first All-Star appearance in 2016 and put together a true break-out season in 2017 when he hit 37 homers with a slashline of .312/.376/.548 and won the gold glove. That performance got him a big trade to St. Louis for the 2018 season.

In The Show 19 Ozuna is a very balanced hitter who can hurt righties and lefties with both contact (75/77) and power (76/78). He has good durability (90) and is a solid fielder (70) that can play well in the clutch (87). Ozuna doesn't have the stealing (2) ability you'd like, but he can hit for power and average so his offensive production should be more than enough to make up for it.

Carlos Martinez, Starting Pitcher (88 OVR)

Age: 27

Throws/Bats: R/R

Contract: 4 years/$46.8 million

Pitches: 2-Seam Fastball, Slider, 4-Seam Fastball, Cutter, Circle Change

Best Stats: Break (95), Arm Strength (89), Clutch (88), Stamina (86), Velocity (81), H/9 (75)

Carlos Martinez signed with the Cardinals as an international free agent in 2010. He got his debut for the Cardinals in 2013 working out of the bullpen with 1 start to his name and posted a poor 5.08 ERA. In 2014 he got a handful of starts, but he was moved to the rotation on a permenant basis in 2015 and began to flourish. He posted a 3.04 ERA in 29 starts with 181 strikeouts in 174.2 innings, earning himself his first All-Star appearance. Martinez has continued in a similar vein of form and in 2017 he put up his first 200+ inning and 200+ strikeout season before injury limited his involvement in the 2018 season.

In The Show 19 Martinez has superb break (95) and the stamina (86) to go deep in the ball game. His velocity (81) is also a weapon and it makes him an intimidating pitcher. His time in the bullpen has also served to make him strong in the clutch (88) and he has a 5-pitch repertoire with which to confuse hitters.

St. Louis Cardinals MLB Roster

In The Show 19 there can be some small fluctuation in a players OVR from save to save, however the underlying stats are always the same so the production and performance is often equal across saves. We will start our look at the Cardinals MLB roster with their position players and then move onto the pitchers.

The Cardinals MLB roster is made up of 13 position players and 12 pitchers. That gives you your 8-man lineup with a 5-man bench and then the 5-man starting rotation with 7 in the bullpen, including the closer.

The bulk of the heavy lifting on offense will need to be done by your stars. Paul Goldschmidt (contact L 91, power L 81) and Marcell Ozuna (power L 78, contact L 77) as well as their supporting cast of Jose Martinez (contact L 94, contact R 85), Matt Carpenter (power R 82, contact R 70), and Kolten Wong (vision 79, contact R 72). Behind them the likes of Yadier Molina (contact R 78, contact L 69), Jedd Gyorko (contact L 76, power L 75), and Harrison Bader (contact L 72, power L 59) either offer little at the plate or are inconsistent.

On the bench the likes of Dexter Fowler (contact R 65, contact L 59), Matt Wieters (fielding 63, power L 55), and Tyler O'Neill (speed 87, power R 68) offer good defensive options with enough at the plate to be rotated into the lineup to keep the starters fresh.

On the mound the starting rotation has a strong 1-2 punch with Carlos Martinez (break 95, clutch 88) and Miles Mikolas (control 90, stamina 90). Both are capable of going deep into games and shutting down opposing lineups. Michael Wacha (break 84, stamina 79) is a good #3 and the back of the rotation is held by Jack Flaherty (break 90, K/9 82) and the veteran Cardinals legend Adam Wainwright (stamina 81, break 73). At 37 and with just 1 year left on his contract Wainwright won't be around for long, so finding another starter should be a priority.

The Cardinals bullpen is a strong unit, with Jordan Hicks (velocity 99, break 97) as closer and Andrew Miller (break 99, K/9 99) and Luke Gregerson (break 97, clutch 76) as the setup men. John Brebbia (break 92, H/9 83) and Dominic Leone (break 83, velocity 78) can bridge to the bigger arms well, and John Gant (break 90, velocity 78) can eat up innings while Alex Reyes (velocity 87, K/9 83) is an exciting young prospect.

Lineups

MLB The Show 19 gives you 4 lineups to set for your MLB club. These are against a right-handed starter with and without the DH and against a left-handed starter with and without the DH. The game will set some default lineups for you but you can always improve on those. The Cardinals are in the National League which means the lineups you will use the most are without the DH.

Against righties without the DH The Show 19 lines up RF Jose Martinez at the top of the order, with 2B Kolten Wong and 1B Paul Goldschmidt seeing at-bats in the first inning. Behind them is LF Marcell Ozuna, SS Paul DeJong, 3B Matt Carpenter, C Yadier Molina, CF Harrison Bader and finally the pitcher slots in at #9. With the DH Jedd Gyorko comes into the lineup at #7. Against lefties Bader gets promoted to the #7 spot over Molina and with the DH against lefties Gyorko comes into the #5 spot, pushing DeJong and Carpenter down while Bader hits at #8 and Molina is #9. But we can improve on those.

With his impressive contact abilities we have left Jose Martinez atop every lineup  and against righties the the 2-4 slot is still held by Wong, goldschmidt, and Ozuna. Matt Carpenter is promoted to #5 to let his power vs righties shine. The other change is that Dexter Fowler comes in as his contact vs righties is much better than Bader's while his fielding is fine.

Against lefties we have promoted Ozuna to #2, with Paul DeJong coming into #4 and Jedd Gyorko taking over third base and the #5 spot thanks to his quality against lefties. Bader comes back into the lineup at #6 while Kolten Wong hits at #7 and Molina is #8. With the DH Matt Carpenter can come in at #7 and play the field while Gyorko DHs.

Farm System

The farm system in MLB The Show 19 can be a frustration. The fluctuations in OVR are also found in potential, which isn't a problem in the Majors but for young players it can really affect how they develop. There are also some real life prospects missing from the game so you can't just load up a list of the best prospects and go get them in the game. However, there are still some impressive and useful prospects in the Minors that can help the Cardinals.

Scott Ragsdale, Shortstop (74 OVR)

Age: 21

Potential: C

Throws/Bats: R/R

Secondary Position: 2B, 3B

Hitter Tendency: Pull Hitter

Best Stats: Durability (86), Baserunning Aggressiveness (79), Contact vs L (71), Clutch (70), Fielding (69), Arm Accuracy (69), Speed (68)

Scott Ragsdale isn't a typical shortstop prospect that is great with the glove and weak at the plate. He has nice contact skill (58/71) and some power too (53/62). He can still flash the glove a little in the field (69) and has nice speed (68) and is aggressive on the basepaths (79).

Austin Gomber, Starting Pitcher (70 OVR)

Age: 25

Potential: B

Throws/Bats: L/L

Pitches: 4-Seam Fastball, Knuckle Curve, Slider, Changeup

Best Stats: HR/9 (72), Break (70), Stamina (66), Velocity (65), K/9 (61), Control (58)

Austin Gomber was a fourth-round pick for the Cardinals in 2014. He got his MLB debut in 2018, getting 11 starts and pitching 57 innings with 53 strikeouts and a 4.26 ERA.

In The Show 19 Gomber has solid stamina (66) and ok break (70) but he isn't MLB-ready just yet. With shaky control (58) and velocity (65) that could be abused by MLB hitters. In a year or two he could be a useful arm though, especially with that knuckle curve that can be very hard to hit.

Boyce Pesky, First Base (70 OVR)

Age: 24

Potential: B

Throws/Bats: L/S

Secondary Position: LF

Hitter Tendency: Pull Hitter

Best Stats: Vision (74), Durability (74), Clutch (73), Power vs L (69), Contact vs R (65), Fielding (64)

Boyce Pesky is a solid hitter, but isn't yet ready for the Majors. He has nice contact (65/57) but poor power against righties (50). He has ok durability (74) and fielding (64) for a first baseman, as well as the ability to steal a base or two (37).