Randal Grichuk has become one of those names that makes fans pause for a second and think, “Oh yeah, I remember that guy!” For Cardinals followers, the surprise is even bigger: the former St. Louis outfielder is still in the majors at 35, and he’s suddenly giving the Chicago White Sox real production after signing there in May.
Chicago has mostly used Grichuk as a designated hitter and a pinch-hitter against left-handers, and that setup has paid off. He’s batting .299 with a .937 OPS for the White Sox, and a post from Just Baseball on X pointed out just how rare his power numbers have been this season.
Randal Grichuk is one of 4 players this season slugging above .550 with an OPS+ ≥ 140 (min. 80 G).
The other three players are at the top of the NL and AL MVP conversations 🤯
Grichuk has been on another level! pic.twitter.com/Z73FTwcE62
- Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) August 22, 2026
He’s not in the same class as the three stars in that post, but in his current role, he’s doing exactly what a left-handed platoon bat is supposed to do. Of his 204 plate appearances in 2026, 136 have come against southpaws, and he’s punished them to the tune of a .320 average and a 1.017 OPS.
That’s a sharp turn from his Cardinals years, when the power was obvious but the strike-zone management never really came along. Over four seasons in St.
Louis, Grichuk hit 66 home runs, but he also struck out 29.9% of the time and walked only 5.8% of the time. Looking at what he’s doing now, it’s fair to wonder whether the Cardinals could have gotten more out of him by leaning into a platoon role earlier.
The catch is that Grichuk didn’t actually show those kinds of splits while he was in St. Louis.
From 2014 through 2017, he hit .253 with a .797 OPS against right-handers and .239 with a .756 OPS against left-handers. The version of Grichuk who is now thriving against opposite-handed pitching didn’t really emerge until after he left the Cardinals.
St. Louis moved on after the 2017 season, sending Grichuk to the Toronto Blue Jays for relief pitcher Dominic Leone and pitching prospect Conner Greene. At the time, the Cardinals had a crowded outfield picture, with Marcell Ozuna, Tommy Pham and Dexter Fowler expected to be the starters and Harrison Bader and Tyler O'Neill rising as younger options.
The club had also just made the trade for Ozuna a month earlier, a move Cardinals fans would later come to detest. Grichuk later said the congestion in the outfield had hurt his confidence at the plate, and the change of scenery seemed to help.
The return on the trade never really worked out for St. Louis.
Leone posted a 4.50 ERA in 2018 and a 5.53 ERA in 2019 before the Cardinals let him go after that season. Greene never established himself, throwing 25.1 ineffective innings for the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 with a 7.11 ERA, which ended up being his entire major league career.
Grichuk, meanwhile, became Toronto’s starting right fielder and stayed in the lineup for the next four seasons. Across eight teams, he’s put together a solid career, hitting .252 with a .767 OPS and a 104 OPS+. For a player who spent so much time being measured against the fact that he was drafted one pick ahead of Mike Trout, that’s a pretty respectable finish.
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Cardinals Suddenly Have An Outfield Opening After Pereira Setback
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Pereira went on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Aug. 22, and in a corresponding move the Cardinals activated infielder Ramn Uras from the 60-day IL. For a team that needed Pereira to keep building momentum after arriving in St. Louis, the setback leaves another opening for playing time and another question about how long the Cardinals will have to wait before they can really evaluate what he might bring. [Read more 🡒]
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One name that keeps coming up is Cooper Hjerpe, the 2022 first-round pick who is working in Triple-A and posting a 3.08 ERA across 14 starts this season. He is being viewed as a possible answer if the Cardinals need another starter soon, and with the current injuries piling up, the question is less about whether he belongs on the radar than how quickly the team may need him. [Read more 🡒]
Former Cardinals Are Already Making St. Louis Deadline Look Smarter
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For St. Louis, the early returns have only sharpened that logic. May and Nootbaar have both struggled to produce since landing with their new clubs, while Romero has yet to get into a game because of injury, though a rehab assignment could be next. None of that changes the price the Cardinals paid, but it does make the early snapshot of the deal look a little better in St. Louis. [Read more 🡒]