Looking ahead to the start of the Cardinals’ 2026 season, one of their most intriguing players is center fielder Victor Scott II.
Scott will be 25 years old come spring training, and there’s a lot to like about him. Last season Scott was a finalist for the National League gold glove award in center field after ranking second at the position with 16 Outs Above Average. Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs) deservedly took home the gold but Scott was outstanding defensively.
Scott’s sprint speed – 30.2 feet per second – was a close second to Trea Turner (30.3) among MLB players. That speed jetted Scott to 34 stolen bases in 38 attempts (89.4% success). Scott became the first Cardinal to swipe 34 or more bases in a season since Edgar Renteria in 2003.
Scott’s steals and speed aside, the second-year outfielder struggled with a bat in his hands in 2025. Scott batted .216, put up a .305 on-base percentage, and slugged an abysmal .296 slugging percentage.
Scott’s .216 average ranked 170th among 177 MLB hitters that had at least 450 plate appearances last season. His slugging percentage was the worst among the 177 hitters, and only two big-league hitters with a minimum 450 plate appearances had an OPS lower than Scott’s .601.
To be blunt, the Cardinals’ offensive performance from the center-field spot over the past two seasons combined was embarrassing and unacceptable. This was high on the list of reasons why the St. Louis offense was so dormant and non-threatening since the start of 2024.
Over the last two seasons Scott had the most plate appearances from the center-field slot (599) with Michael Siani next with 340. The CF committee also has cameos from Lars Nootbaar, Nathan Church, Dylan Carlson, Jose Barrero, and Garrett Hampson.
That group of seven centerfielders collectively generated a .219 average, .288 OBP, .287 slug, and a .576 OPS. Measured in adjusted runs created (wRC+) the offense delivered by the STL center-field delegation over the past two seasons was a disgraceful 33 percent below league average.
Their centerfielders lofted only 11 home runs in 1,033 combined at-bats. Their strikeout rate (collectively) was a terrible 25.4 percent. No matter how we look at this, we witnessed a truly awful showing by their CF crew over 324 games that covered 2024-2025.
I gave Scott a mulligan for his weak offensive numbers as a nervous rookie in 2024. He was plugged into center at the start of the season because of an emergency blitz of injuries that diminished the STL outfield. Scott wasn’t ready for big-league pitching, but there was no shame in that.
In that debut season of 2024, Scott was a glaring 60 percent below league average offensively per wRC+. He did improve in 2025, with an wRC+ that was “only” 24 percent below league average.
Remember when the Cardinals had so many talented and entertaining hitters who played center field? So many guys with lots of charisma and flair. The list of names will bring back some fond memories.
Willie McGee, Jim Edmonds, Ray Lankford.
George Hendrick, J.D. Drew, Jon Jay.
(Note: Hendrick played a lot of games in center for the Cardinals – more than I would have guessed.)
Brian Jordan, Rick Ankiel, Harrison Bader.
Randal Grichuk, So Taguchi, Tommy Pham.
Skip Schumaker, Colby Rasmus, Milt Thompson.
Lars Nootbaar has taken plenty of shifts in center. Tommy Edman sprinted to make mad-dash catches out there for a time. He didn’t hit much, but I liked watching Peter Bourjos running around out like a cheetah. Dylan Carlson was terrific for a time.
I suppose I should cite Dexter Fowler for his productive 2017. The old-timers will recall Tony Scott. For kicks, I will mention CF cameos by Jeremy Hazelbaker, St. Louisan Kerry Robinson, and cult hero Rex Hudler. Darren Bragg. What?
Or how about manager Mike Matheny putting Kolten Wong in center for a time? I think Tony La Russa used Allen Craig in CF for a few games. How will you remember the Ben DeLuzio era?
If I missed anyone, please forgive me. The Cardinals certainly had a colorful and eccentric cast of characters in center field over the last 40-plus years. Many were average, some were above average, others were really good, and a select few were great.
McGee, Edmonds and Lankford are Cardinals Hall of Famers. George Hendrick should be with them. And Brian Jordan has a chance to become one.
Here’s all you need to know …
From 1982 through 2022 – a span of 41 seasons! – St. Louis center fielders led their National League counterparts in Wins Above Replacement, wRC+, onbase percentage and runs batted in. The St. Louis CF gang was second in the NL at the position in slugging and batting average – and third in home runs. The team’s overall defensive rating in center field over the 41 seasons was fourth-best in the NL.
This is probably enough to make some of you cry. What happened to center field in St. Louis? Where did the talent go? Who pulled the plug on something so electric? Who screwed up? (Maybe John Mozeliak?)
If you’re wondering how a column on Victor Scott turned into a retrospective on 41 Years Of St. Louis Cardinals Centerfielders … Well, forgive me. The memories are too grand to ignore. And there is a point to this. A connection to history. But looking at the state of the center-field real estate now, I would say there’s been a disconnection from that illustrious history.
This isn’t meant to dump on Victor Scott. He’s still young enough to lift his offense and become one of the dudes we’ll talk about one day. But man, does Scott have a lot of work to do. He’ll likely enter spring training as the designated starter in center field, but nothing is guaranteed.
“I do want him coming in with that mentality,” manager Oli Marmol told reporters at the baseball Winter Meetings. “Absolutely, man. You look at his (2025) year offensively and it left you wanting more, but there was a ton of growth in Victor and understanding what it takes to have success at the big league level, what preparation truly looks like, how pitchers are game-planning specifically for you and what you need to do to be able to combat that.
“So when you look at his year, yeah, the numbers aren't what you want them to be, but you look at the growth in his preparation and where this is headed, and he's one of the guys I'm most excited to see this upcoming year.”
The Statcast metrics on Scott’s offense in 2025 were discouraging. A few areas were good – speed and defense – but we knew that already. Scott also drew a solid percentage of walks, and didn’t chase pitches out of the strike zone at a concerning rate.
That’s pretty much it for the positives. So Scott, who bats from the left side, did demonstrate some growth as a hitter. As for the negatives in ‘25 …
+ Scott’s Batting Run Value, minus 13, ranked No. 269 among 300 major-league hitters that had at least 240 plate appearances. Cards right fielder Jordan Walker was even worse at minus 14.
+ A huge problem is Scott’s bat speed. At 69 miles per hour, that lagging bat speed puts Scott in the bottom 10 percent of MLB hitters.
+ With such slow bat speed, it’s no surprise to see Scott in the bottom 6 percent of MLB hitters in average exit velocity. Or see him in the bottom 2 percent of MLB hitters with a 26% hard-hit rate. Scott’s barrel rate (2.4%) ranked 221st.
+ Scott’s strikeout rate (25.4%) was in the bottom 24 percent. His whiff-swing rate was in the bottom 27%.
+ Pitchers used eight different pitches against Scott last season. His performance was below average in seven of the eight. The one exception was his average rating against four-seam fastballs. But he didn’t do much damage against them.
+ Scott’s expected slugging percentage was in the bottom 1 percent of MLB hitters.
+ Because of the slow bat speed, Scott didn’t do much damage on pitches thrown in the strike zone, batting .254 with a .381 slug. He should be hammering more of those pitches.
+ And when Scott chased pitches out of the zone last season, he went 6 for 60. That’s a .100 batting average.
+ When facing lefty pitchers last season (131 plate appearances) Scott batted .204, slugged .241, and struck out 27.4 percent of the time. Per wRC+, Scott was 43 percent below league average offensively when going against LH pitching – and 18% below average when taking on righties.
One more thing …
Can we talk about Scott’s bunting? Look, I’m not trying to pile on here. I would be pleased to see Scott develop and succeed. Heck, I even purchased one of his personal line of baseball caps. This is a likeable guy who works extremely hard to get better.
The attempts to bunt for a hit didn’t go so well for Scott in 2025. To his credit, Scott’s 10 sacrifice bunts ranked 5th in the majors – and I wanted to point that out.
But in terms of bunting for a base hit, Scott went 7 for 23 for a .304 batting average. That might look pretty good to you, but it isn’t.
Among 13 MLB hitters who tried to bunt for a hit in at least 10 official at-bats, Scott’s .304 average was the lowest. The other 12 hitters who tried to bunt for a hit had batting averages between .750 at the high end and .400 at the low end.
Scott’s 23 at-bats that ended with him trying to bunt his way to first were the most by a big-league hitter in 2025. And I can’t even tell you how many times he fouled off a bunt attempt … but it was a lot. So why did Scott do this often in games? Unless he tried to sacrifice a runner over, bunting was a poor strategy.
Because the Cardinals are rebuilding, it makes sense to give Scott another significant opportunity in 2026 to prove he’s capable of improving to a respectable level of offense. With his elite defense and speed, Scott doesn’t have to be Daulton Varsho among left-swinging hitters who play center field. But could Victor at least get to the point where he can hit like TJ Friedl?
Thanks for reading and supporting my work as an STL Insider subscriber.
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach.
Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.