'Start from scratch': DeJong joins Cards' taxi squad

WASHINGTON -- Paul DeJong is back with the Cardinals, though not officially, yet.

The veteran shortstop rejoined the team on its taxi squad Friday in the nation’s capital, following a 2 1/2-month demotion to Triple-A Memphis. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said the team plans to activate DeJong soon, possibly as early as this weekend.

When exactly could hinge on any moves St. Louis makes by the Aug. 2 Trade Deadline, so the exact timeline remains unclear. But for the first time in a while, DeJong factors into the club's immediate plans.

“The way we thought about Pauly, early on, when we had the initial conversations, was, we wanted him to go down there and earn his way back up here,” Marmol said. “Our hope was that he wouldn't come back simply because there was a need or because there was an injury, but that he earned it. He's done that.”

An All-Star as recently as 2019, DeJong has not appeared in the Majors since May 8, after he struggled mightily to begin the year following a down 2021 season. But the power that was once his calling card reappeared at Memphis, where DeJong hit .249/.313/.552 with 17 homers in 51 games. He homered in three straight games before rejoining the club.

DeJong’s imminent return would create a bit of a logjam on the Cardinals' infield -- and that’s part of why it hasn’t officially happened yet. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday the club was receiving trade calls on Nolan Gorman and Edmundo Sosa, who replaced DeJong as the everyday shortstop in 2021.

This year, Tommy Edman assumed the starting shortstop job when DeJong was optioned. Top prospect Gorman was promoted shortly after and inserted as the everyday second baseman. Whether Sosa is traded or not, there isn’t room for Edman, Gorman, Sosa, Brendan Donovan and DeJong on the same roster, especially with corner bat Juan Yepez on the mend from a right forearm strain as well. Such is the uncertainty of the days leading up to the Aug. 2 Trade Deadline.

However it shakes out, the Cardinals and DeJong are both hopeful his successful reset will help bolster their infield depth for the stretch run.

“I’m excited,” DeJong said. “I feel like I’m in a good place. My body feels good. I just want to help this team win. We’re right there on the cusp, and I know I can help them. I’m just here to sort of start from scratch and do what I can do today.”

A revelation for his precocious power, DeJong was the runner-up for National League Rookie of the Year and he set the Cardinals' single-season record for home runs by a shortstop in 2017, then he re-set the record in his All-Star season in ‘19. But he never got hot during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and his production dropped precipitously in 2021, when he lost his starting job for the first time. DeJong then hit .130 with one homer in 24 games this season before the demotion.

All told, the 28-year-old is a career .237/.308/.434 hitter with 97 homers over parts of six seasons with St. Louis. He is under contract through 2023 at a $9 million salary, with a combined $27.5 million in club options for 2024 and ’25.

“I didn't feel like when I got there that I was anticipating when I was coming back,” DeJong said. “It was more just about focusing in on what I could do [that day]: play the game. It was quiet. I was able to get away from everything and just focus on myself and playing the game.”