Stud prospect Oscar Taveras was demoted back to the minors on June 13 after struggling in his 11-game debut with the Cardinals, but the team just announced that he’s been recalled from Triple-A.
Taveras homered in his first big-league game, but went on to hit just .189 with a 7/2 K/BB ratio and .522 OPS overall. He wasn’t great at Triple-A following the demotion, hitting .292 with one homer and a .775 OPS in 13 games, but Taveras has been a monster in the minors overall this season and at age 22 he’s one of the truly elite prospects in baseball.
When the Cardinals sent Taveras down earlier this month they did so because they didn’t want him wasting away on the bench for a team that had plenty of outfield depth to go around, but now manager Mike Matheny seems willing to cut into Allen Craig’s playing time in right field. Craig has hit just .255 with six homers and a .673 OPS in 81 games after posting an .850 OPS from 2010-2013, and limiting him mostly to starts versus left-handed pitchers while using the left-handed-hitting Taveras versus right-handers would make some sense.
