Late on Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals designated catcher Tres Barrera for assignment.
His replacement was somebody who has been hitting quite well at Triple-A Memphis.
On Saturday, the Cards selected the contract of first baseman and slugger Luken Baker.
The 26-year-old had been hitting at a .313 clip in Memphis and was leading the International League with 18 home runs.
He also had driven in 53 runs, posted a .434 on-base percentage, a .641 slugging percentage, and a 1.075 OPS.
Baker was drafted in 2018 out of Texas Christian University, the same college that Cardinals legend Matt Carpenter attended.
Now, he’ll finally get his shot in the big leagues.
The #STLCards have selected Luken Baker from Triple-A.
Tres Barrera has been designated for assignment. pic.twitter.com/0KYr6yfiBA
— 101 ESPN St. Louis (@101espn) June 4, 2023
The Cardinals’ offense has fallen on hard times once again.
Players such as Willson Contreras, Paul DeJong, and Tommy Edman have gone cold.
The team also has three outfielders on the injured list.
They are currently without Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson, and Lars Nootbaar.
Jordan Walker was called up on Thursday to replace Nootbaar on the big-league roster.
But with Contreras and Andrew Knizner handling the catching duties, Barrera was essentially squeezed out of a spot.
Now, Baker will take that spot and hope to provide the Cardinals’ offense with a much-needed spark.
The team has not been .500 or above since April 4.
With Saturday’s tough loss, they lost significant ground in the NL Central.
But with Baker hitting well at the minor-league level, the Cardinals will hope that he can give the offense a bit of a spark as they look to come out of their recent funk.
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