Cards still waiting on Grichuk’s bat

ST. LOUIS — A season that began with Randal Grichuk set as the team’s everyday center fielder has evolved into a series of growing pains through which the 24-year-old is continuing to navigate. And while he does, the Cardinals are looking for other options.

Manager Mike Matheny, as he did after Grichuk opened the season 1-for-15, sat Grichuk on Monday to give him an opportunity to unplug from his current 0-for-20 skid. It was the third time in the team’s last five games that Grichuk has been out of the lineup so that he could spend his day working to get right without the pressure to perform on the field.

Grichuk’s offensive troubles in early April could be boiled down to pitch recognition and confidence, the former leading to an erosion of the latter. Grichuk pulled his way out of that skid with extra work tracking pitches from a slider machine and, beginning with a three-walk afternoon on April 10, hit .286/.412/.571 with 11 walks and nine strikeouts in a 12-game stretch.

He has followed that success by …

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