Cardinals turn to new leadoff hitter to try and spark abysmal lineup

The St. Louis Cardinals scored ten runs on Monday to defeat the Los Angeles Angels in the opener of their three-game series at Angel Stadium. It wouldn't have been shocking to see the Cardinals score ten runs to win a game entering the year, but with how bad their offense has been it's a miracle that they were able to hit double digits.

It's the first time this season that the Cardinals were able to score ten runs in a game. Very encouraging sign from the offense that ranks second-to-last in runs scored entering Tuesday's action.

As fun as Monday was, two things need to be pointed out. One, it's the Angels. They're even worse than the Cardinals are. Two, it's only one game. They scored just ten runs in their four-game series in Milwaukee days ago. Their offense has been brutal all year. With that in mind, Oli Marmol is finally shaking up the lineup in a way he hasn't all season.

Cardinals lineup has new look at the leadoff spot

Masyn Winn not only leads off for the first time this season, but in his MLB career. This move up to the leadoff spot is well-deserved for Winn who has been one of the few Cardinals to meet expectations offensively.

The 22-year-old is slashing .283/.346/.372 this season in 37 games played. He leads the team in batting average and ranks third in hits. He hasn't hit for much power, but the Cardinals need base runners, especially in front of the players who are supposed to be their best hitters. Putting Winn at the top of the order accomplishes that.

Cardinals leadoff hitters have hit just .205 this season with a 79 WRC+. They rank 27th in the league in average and 26th in WRC+ from the top of the lineup. That's obviously unacceptable. Brendan Donovan deserves a bulk of the blame for that, as he's led off 36 times in their 41 games.

Donovan is still hitting second in Tuesday's lineup (he should be far lower) but it's good to see Marmol make a change at the top. Perhaps Winn can maintain his hot streak (he has two multi-hit games in a row) and lead some sort of turnaround for their offense.

It took over a month, but it's good to see the Cardinals finally showing some urgency by trying out some new lineups of late.