When the St. Louis Cardinals despatched struggling shortstop Paul DeJong to the minor leagues on Tuesday, it opened the best way for former South Alabama standout Brendan Donovan to do one thing that hadn’t occurred within the trendy historical past of the Main Leagues.

Filling the emptiness and batting eighth within the Cardinals’ lineup for Tuesday evening’s interleague recreation in opposition to the Baltimore Orioles, Donovan grew to become the primary participant since not less than 1901 to make his first 4 big-league begins at 4 completely different infield positions.

The historic feat got here with a cherry on prime. With the Cardinals trailing the Orioles 5-2 within the backside of the ninth, Donovan led off the inning along with his first Main League residence run. Getting an 86-mph changeup from pitcher Dillon Tate, Donovan hit the 0-1 providing 387 feet.

St. Louis went on to load the bases after Donovan’s residence run, however the Orioles obtained out of the inning with none additional Cardinals crossing the plate for a 5-3 victory.

After being referred to as up from the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds and making his MLB debut as a pinch-runner on April 25, Donovan obtained his first big-league begin on April 26 as St. Louis’ first baseman in a Nationwide League recreation in opposition to the New York Mets.

For his subsequent begin on April 30, Donovan was at third base in opposition to the Arizona Diamondbacks, then got here a begin at second base in opposition to the Kansas Metropolis Royals on Might 2.

Donovan’s fourth begin on Tuesday evening got here within the eleventh recreation of his MLB profession. Donovan additionally has performed proper area for one inning for the Cardinals this season. Getting into Tuesday evening, he’d performed 11 innings apiece at first, second and third.

A seventh-round draft alternative in 2018 after hitting .311 throughout three seasons at South Alabama, Donovan has performed in 242 minor-league video games. Whereas at USA, Donovan appeared in 67 video games in left area, 64 at third base, 31 in proper area, 14 at shortstop and two at first base. Within the minors, Donovan appeared in 131 video games at second base, 43 at third base, 29 at first base, 17 in left area, 11 at shortstop and two in proper area.

At Enterprise Excessive College, Donovan earned a spot on the ASWA Class 7A All-State staff because the Wildcats’ shortstop in 2015, when Collegiate Baseball chosen him for the Louisville Slugger Excessive College All-American staff.

DeJong grew to become the Cardinals’ beginning shortstop in 2017. He hit 30 residence runs and made the Nationwide League All-Star staff in 2019. However DeJong batted .197 final season and had a .130 batting common in 24 video games in 2022 when he was despatched to Memphis.

Edmundo Sosa, who made 59 begins at shortstop final season for St. Louis, is on a minor-league rehab task. The Cardinals even have talked to Tommy Edman, the Nationwide League’s Gold Glove second baseman in 2021, about enjoying shortstop.

Mark Inabinett is a sports activities reporter for Alabama Media Group. Observe him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.