After Working 11 Years, Cardinals Utility Fielder had Storybook Start

Growth, as St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol pointed out repeatedly over the final month of the 2026 season, can be measured in a variety of ways.

One way, of course, is the standings – an area where the Cardinals fell back a win from 2025 (78-84) to 2026 (77-85), one that was somewhat expected with the widespread youth on the roster and the club selling off veteran pitchers JoJo Romero and Dustin May for prospects at the MLB Trade Deadline.

Instead, the Cardinals tried to evaluate areas of growth in non-traditional ways in a non-traditional season in St. Louis.

Growth was having a defined core group of players – Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, Masyn Winn, Michael McGreevy, Kyle Leahy and Riley O’Brien – take major steps in their games and evolve into building blocks. Growth was the 5-foot-7 Bryan Torres working for 11 years in the Minor League and Independent League baseball to get to the big leagues and then singling and homering in his first MLB game.

Growth was seeing Leo Bernal, Joshua Baez, Quinn Mathews, Cooper Hjerpe and Nathan Church live up to the hype that followed them from the Minor Leagues and show signs they can be depended on going forward.

Growth was Andre Pallante and Gordon Graceffo shaking off the struggles of 2025 and showing the fortitude to change the trajectory of their careers.

“This is a really young group, but there’s been a lot of progress with so many of these guys,” Marmol said. “You can go up and down the lineup and you see growth from so many of our guys. Then, go to the rotation and what McGreevy, Pallante and Leahy did this season, and the bullpen as well. Our staff has really enjoyed pouring into that group. They are hungry for information, and they want to be coaches, so that’s made it a lot of fun.”

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However, as president of baseball operation Chaim Bloom reminds, the Cardinals still have major gulfs between them and MLB’s top teams. The National League champion Brewers, after all, finished 26 games ahead of St. Louis and battered the Cards in 11 of 13 head-to-head meetings. Much more growth is needed for the Cards to better navigate the difference the rebuilding and contending.

With growth being the focus, let’s look back at the performances by individual players in the 2026 season and how they will figure into the Cards’ plans going forward in 2027 and beyond:  

Player name: Bryan Torres

Age: 29

How acquired: Invited to Spring Training by the Cardinals as a non-roster player on Jan. 16, 2025

2026 statistics: MLB – 74 games, .229/.309/.331/.640, 17 runs, 38 hits, one double, two triples, four home runs, 19 RBI, 39 strikeouts, 18 walks, two stolen bases in two attempts. Triple-A Memphis – 36 games, .336/.454/.477/.931, 24 runs, 43 hits, 10 doubles, one triple, two homers, 16 RBI, 25 strikeouts, 29 walks, 10 stolen bases in 12 tries.

Key numbers: Despite being the smallest player on the Cardinals at 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds, Torres is exceptional at pulling the ball in the air – a big reason why he hit four homers, a double and two triples in his 74 games of action. Torres pulled the ball in the air 21.5 percent of the time – far more than the MLB average of 16.9 percent of the time. Also, his squared-up rate of 31.8 percent would have been in MLB’s Top 10 percent if he had enough at bats to qualify statistically.

Looking back to 2026: After spending 11 years in the Minor League and Independent League baseball, Torres had the MLB debut of a lifetime on May 23 in Cincinnati against the Reds. After singling in his first at bat for his first big-league hit, Torres smashed a two-run homer over the wall in right field much to the delight of family who had traveled from Puerto Rico to be there for his debut. On the season, Torres made himself valuable to the Cardinals defensively while playing second base (13 games), third base (three games), left field (39 games) and center field (one game). Despite his lack of size, Torres has an exceptionally strong arm with his throws across the infield and in from the outfield averaging 89.4 mph – good for MLB’s 81st percentile.

Looking forward to 2027: The Cardinals loved having a baseball lifer like Torres in their clubhouse because of his strong spirit and his willingness to fight at the plate and in the field. However, if Torres is going to stick on the roster in 2027, he is going to need to hit more like he did at Triple-A Memphis (.336 batting average and a .454 on-base percentage). Torres quickly became a favorite of the coaching staff because of his tendency to arrive long before other players so that he could get in two different workouts prior to games. Torres made himself valuable by being able to play four different positions, but now he needs to hit well enough to preserve his roster spot for 2027.