Comparing Jhonny Peralta to the St. Louis Cardinals Shortstops & MLB Positional Averages

Shortly after the end of the World Series, we looked at how the 2013 St. Louis Cardinals compared to the league-average batting lines for their respective positions. Not surprisingly, the shortstops stuck out with how much worse than average they were last season.

2013: ST. LOUIS CARDINALS vs. MLB SS AVERAGES

Peralta's 2013 numbers were significantly better than Kozma's or Descalso's.

2013: PERALTA vs. KOZMA & DESCALSO

Last season, Peralta's batting numbers were also quite a bit better than the average for MLB shortstops.

2013: PERALTA vs. MLB SS AVERAGES

If Peralta bats like he did in 2013, the Cardinals improved dramatically on offense in 2014 at the shortstop position by signing him.

Peralta is not likely to bat as well in 2014 as he did in 2013, though. On the flip side of that coin, Kozma is unlikely to bat as poorly in 2014 as he did in 2013. The same goes for Descalso. Using the 2014 Steamer projections that are available for free at Fangraphs, we can compare the trio's likely 2014 batting rates.

2014 STEAMER FORECAST: PERALTA vs. KOZMA & DESCALSO

Comparing Peralta's 2014 Steamer projections to the same for Kozma and Descalso closes the gap a bit. Nonetheless, Peralta is still a clear upgrade at shortstop offensively.

2014 PERALTA STEAMER PROJECTION vs. 2013 MLB SS AVERAGES

Peralta's 2014 Steamer projection is not as significantly better than the 2013 MLB shortstop averages as his 2013 batting line. Nonetheless, Steamer still projects Peralta to be a roughly league-average batter, which is a fair bit better than the 2013 league-average batting line for shortstops.