St. Louis Cardinals: 5 Cardinals Who Need to Improve in Order to Win NL Central

Matt Holliday and reigning World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals are adjusting to life after their superstar first baseman, Albert Pujols, left them to sign a mammoth contract with the Los Angeles Angels prior to the 2012 season.

Although this was a huge loss for the Cardinals, they acquired outfielder Carlos Beltran to soften the blow.  Beltran has been a great addition so far, but they look to have other key players step up if they want to make another World Series run.

The Cardinals, like many other teams in the league, are battling injuries and hope to have a healthy squad in order to make a push to win the National League Central Division.

Adam Wainwright, SP

Adam Wainwright is the Cardinals' No. 1 starting pitcher; they are waiting for him to start acting like it.

Wainwright has been a gem for five fulls seasons with the team, but the sixth season has started off with a bit of turbulence.  He has a 4-6 record through 11 starts and has a mediocre 4.98 ERA, uncharacteristic for the right-hander.

The Cardinals need him to step up and pitch like he has for the past two seasons, finishing with an ERA under 2.70 in both.  He needs to improve especially because fellow starter and top-of-the-rotation guy, Chris Carpenter, is out until late July.

Matt Holliday, LF

Matt Holliday is a career .300 hitter that the Cardinals' offense needs without Albert Pujols around anymore.

With that said, Holliday is hitting a mere .272 and only a .466 slugging percentage, which seems pedestrian for his standards.  He hasn't finished a season batting under .300 since 2009 and that was one of only two seasons of his eight-year career in which he didn't reach the mark.

Holliday is hitting .364 in the past seven days.  The Cardinals are hoping this is a sign of things to come because they need him to hit for average if they want to make a run in the NL Central.

David Freese, 3B

David Freese earned a starting role with the Cardinals for the 2012 season after playing in just over half the games last season.  He is trying to adjust as an everyday player and is struggling with the role.

Freese never averaged under .295 in his short major league career, but is only hitting .257 this season.  He is one of the playoff heroes from last year, showing he has a great amount of talent.  He finished the postseason with a .397 average, five home runs and 21 RBI.

These are the kind of numbers that Cardinals' faithful are hoping for going forward.  Freese has two-thirds of a season to prove he belongs in the starting lineup, or the Cardinals may be in the market for a new third basemen.

Tyler Greene, 2B/SS

Tyler Greene is not used to having such a large playing role.  He has already accumulated the most at-bats in a season this year than any other year in his four-year career.

Not much is expected of the young role player, but the team needs him to improve because of the growing number of injuries they are experiencing.  He is hitting a measly .217, which isn't out of the ordinary for Greene, but with Skip Schumaker out until at least mid-June, he needs to be the dependable backup infielder that the Cardinals need.

With the bench already being used more than average for MLB teams, the Cardinals need players like Greene to start hitting if they want to stay competitive in the National League.

Daniel Descalso, 2B/3B

Daniel Descalso is in his second full season with the St. Louis Cardinals and he seems to be developing into an average-at-best major league hitter.

Yes, Descalso is only a bench player, but he also saw over 300 at-bats last season.  He is one of those role players that is heavily depended upon, and they need him to hit better than his current .245 average, especially with injuries being a problem with the ball club.

He is young, so he has time to develop as a hitter, but for now he needs to learn and develop faster than he has hoped.  The Cardinals are hovering around .500, and they need a solid role player to step up to put them over the hump.  Descalso needs to be that guy.