Exit Interview 2022: Edmundo Sosa

One of our regular offseason traditions is the Exit Interview, where we look back at each player that got into a game for the St. Louis Cardinals in the past season.  This is the 11th season we’ve done this and it’s a good way to get a view of the whole year, not just a short stretch of games.  It’s sort of like a performance review before the players went off to their offseason work, spending a little time with Oli Marmol and going over what went right, what went wrong.  Stats and grades are only for a player’s time in St. Louis, though splits numbers may include other teams.  As always, my sincere thanks to the legend of cardinalsgifs for providing the header image!

Player: Edmundo Sosa

Season stats: 53 G, 131 PA, 17 R, 4 2B, 3 3B, 8 RBI, 3 SB, 1 CS, 4 BB, 38 K, .189/.244/.270, 49 OPS+, 0.6 bWAR, 0.1 fWAR

Statcast: .286 xwOBA, 5.5 barrel %, 86.8 exit velocity, 29.7 hard hit %, 26.3 K %, 2.6 BB %

Best Statcast category: Sprint Speed, Outs Above Average (96th percentile)

Worst Statcast category: Max Exit Velocity (36th percentile)

Hero/Goat: Goat 1

Grade: C

Positives: Had two hits in his first game of the season, which came five games after Opening Day….had four other multi-hit games….continued to field his position with grace….hit .247 at home….had a strong second half, though most of that was with Philadelphia….hit .273 in four games batting sixth….hit .250 on the first pitch….had a .952 OPS when ahead in the count….hit .264 with one out in an inning….had a .727 OPS against the Brewers.

Negatives: Was unable to maintain the offensive run he had in 2021….struck out four times in his final Cardinal start….had a .583 OPS against righties….had a .507 OPS on the road….put up a .435 OPS in July….hit .203 when the count was even….had a .484 OPS with two outs in a frame….hit .167 the first time facing a starter in a game….hit .222 against the Cubs.

Overview: Sosa was locked into the roster due to the fact that he had no options left.  For the most part, he was a serviceable backup at short but with a stronger offensive performance, it could have meant a long run for him and more time at second for Tommy Edman.  Instead, Edman had to shift and Nolan Gorman got the time at second, at least to start with.  When Paul DeJong looked like he had figured things out at Memphis, Sosa became expendable and the Cards flipped him for JoJo Romero.  Time will tell, of course, but the initial results gave Philadelphia the win in this deal as Sosa went .315/.345/.593 with both of his homers on the year for the NL champions.

Outlook: Sosa doesn’t appear to be arbitration eligible yet so I imagine he’ll find himself with a bench role for the Phillies this year.  I don’t know if they have any prospects coming up that could unseat him or anything, but a glove-first guy is always going to be in peril.  If he can hit like he did for the Phillies and how he did for the Cardinals last year, he probably can get a full year with the Phils.  If he struggles, though, he could be a guy that gets cut to make room for someone else.

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