Every year, or at least every year since 2012, we’ve taken some time after the season was over to look at the past 162 games through the lens of the players that played them (and the management that was in charge of them). Last year, the Exit Interview series spent less time digging into splits and finding numerical oddities and more time reflecting on the player and their season. It was a style that seemed to work so we’re going to bring it back again this year. The legendary cardinalsgifs is back to bring us excellent series art, so it’s all downhill after you see that!
Player: Jose Fermin
Stats: 45 G, 79 PA, 7 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 2 SB, 1 CS, .155/.241/.197, bWAR
Statcast: 0.0% barrel, 15.0% sweet spot, 105.7 max exit velocity, .207 wOBA, .249 xwOBA, 13.9 K%, 8.9 BB%
Grade: C
Somehow Fermin got less plate appearances than Brandon Crawford, which really makes no sense. Fermin had a strong spring, batting .283 with a couple of home runs, and while you should never put a whole lot of stock in spring training performances (as the club learned to their detriment with Jordan Walker in 2023 and Victor Scott II in 2024) for a backup shortstop, that’s pretty solid. He might not have been super at the position but he could make the routine plays and an occasional good one. Yet Crawford came available and the club couldn’t resist the siren song of veteran leadership.
Fermin then went to Memphis and hit .311/.424/.500 with eight homers for the season. He bounced up and down between Mississippi River cities but even when he came up, it was usually not where he was going to see much action. From May 31 to July 5, for instance, he was in the majors but only got 33 plate appearances over 21 team games. Granted, he didn’t do much with it (.097 average in that span) but it isn’t an easy thing to get one at bat every other day. He played a little more in September, had a little better luck, but still didn’t light the world on fire.
What’s in store for 2025: Fermin has one option year left, which probably means he sticks around as insurance. Even with Thomas Saggese learning shortstop and likely the main backup for Masyn Winn next season, having Fermin at Memphis wouldn’t be the worst thing. He’ll probably have a similar year to ’24 and then be given his unconditional release.
