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Saggese gets a chance atop St. Louis’ lineup after doing a spectacular job filling in for JJ Wetherholt (wrist) and Masyn Winn (thumb) of late. The 24-year-old former prospect has hit .392 (20-for-51) with three homers, nine RBI and three steals over his last 15 games. He’s the type of sneaky late-season addition that can make a difference on the margins in an extremely deep fantasy league.

Saggese hit a two-run homer off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the sixth and singled in the go-ahead run in a three-run 10th inning. He has eight hits and three homers in his last three games. It sounds like Masyn Winn is about ready to return, but one imagines Saggese will stay in the lineup. He probably should have been getting at-bats at Nolan Gorman’s expense months ago, but there’s still time for that to happen now.

Saggese had his best career day at the plate so far, starting with a solo homer off Eric Lauer in the second inning. After driving in a run on a sacrifice fly in the third inning, he went yard again in the fifth for a solo shot off Alex Vesia. Saggese then drew a walk and scored a third run in the eighth. The 24-year-old infielder was making his second start since he was recalled from Triple-A Memphis following injuries to Blaze Jordan and JJ Wetherholt.

He takes Blaze Jordan’s spot on the roster. It would seem to make sense for the Cardinals to give Saggese more of a look than Nolan Gorman down the stretch, but we’re guessing if they wanted to do that, Saggese would have already been in the big leagues and not needed an injury to be recalled. Saggese is hitting .258/.340/.446 for Memphis this year with 10 homers and nine stolen bases in 249 plate appearances.

Saggese has really struggled with the bat in his limited time with the Cardinals this season, slashing a woeful .184/.244/.276 with just one homer and four RBI in 82 plate appearances. With Lars Nootbaar (heel) returning from the injured list on Friday, he was squeezed off of the active roster. He should get another opportunity with the big league club before the summer is through.

Saggese got the nod over Nolan Gorman against Shota Imanaga, but he was replaced by Gorman as soon as the lefty exited so that Gorman could strike out and pop out in two at-bats. The Cardinals really ought to give Saggese a look over Gorman at this point. After all, they were just willing to bench Pedro Pages, who, despite his offensive decencies, has easily been a more valuable player than Gorman as a major leaguer.

Saggese returns to St. Louis, just a couple days after being sent down to play everyday at the Triple-A level, with veteran Ramón Urías hitting the injured list with an elbow issue. The 24-year-old has struggled at the dish and is unlikely to play enough to make any sort of fantasy impact.

It’s been a rough start to the season for Saggese, who is slashing .170/.228/.208 with a 33 percent strikeout rate in 57 plate appearances. He has solid minor league numbers, but he now owns a .239/.283/.318 slash line in 404 MLB plate appearances, which is not promising.

Saggese, who missed time playing for Team Italy in the WBC, made his fifth outfield start today. With JJ Wetherholt overtaking him and Ramón Urías getting brought in as a utilityman, Saggese has played the infield just twice (both times at shortstop) this spring. He’s now played left field three times and center twice. Given that, it seems like he’s batting Nathan Church for the last spot on the Cardinals bench, which is a spot that figures to go away if Lars Nootbaar can return in mid-April. He’s batting .316/.381/.526 in 21 plate appearances.

Italy also got homers from Kyle Teel and Owen Ayers, a Cubs prospect who was borrowed for the day. Between the Ramón Urías signing and JJ Wetherholt’s hot start, Saggese is facing increased competition to make the Cardinals. The team probably wouldn’t carry both Wetherholt and Saggese unless there was fairly regular playing time available for both.

Saggese has a big opportunity to win a starting spot in Cardinals camp with Nolan Arenado and Brandon Donovan gone, but he’ll take a little time away in the process. Italy is looking at a lefty-heavy lineup of something like this in the WBC: CF Jakob Marsee, C Kyle Teel, 1B Vinnie Pasquantino, LF Zach Dezenzo, DH Dominic Canzone, RF Jac Caglianone, 2B Saggese, 3B Miles Mastrobuoni and SS Jon Berti. Aaron Nola and Michael Lorenzen will lead the pitching staff, with former Team USA reliever Adam Ottavino coming out of the pen.

Saggese knocked a base hit in the first inning, then gave the Cardinals a three-run lead with a two-run homer off Andrew Abbott in the third inning for his second home run of the season. The 23-year-old infielder is hitting .263/.302/.347 with 23 runs scored and 23 RBI across 253 plate appearances.

One was a double, though that was his softest-hit ball of the game. It’s Saggese’s first four-hit game as a major leaguer, and he’s now batting .256/.299/.330 in 232 plate appearances. The lack of power production is an issue, but the exit velocity is there; he has a 44% hard-hit rate and he’s managed eight barrels, though just one has turned into a homer.