PHOENIX -- Presuming Aledmys Diaz plays every game for the St. Louis Cardinals in this series against the Arizona Diamondbacks -- and why wouldn’t he when he’s batting .480? -- he will become Major League Baseball’s leading hitter. Diaz went into Monday’s game three plate appearances shy of qualifying for the batting-title chase.

Once he qualifies, he likely also will lead the majors in OPS. His is currently 1.369.

Aledmys Diaz entered Monday's game batting .480 but needing three plate appearances to qualifying in the race for baseball's batting title. Billy Hurst/USA TODAY Sports

It’s fair to say this production qualifies as something of a surprise. Diaz didn’t make the Cardinals’ roster until backup outfielder Tommy Pham suffered a torn oblique muscle in Pittsburgh on Opening Day. In fact, the Cardinals really didn’t know what kind of hitter they were getting when they signed Diaz for $8 million off a 2014 tryout after he defected from Cuba.

The tryout didn’t provide any definitive answers.

“You could see the power, but it was just yank, yank, yank. We could pull some high school kids who would probably wow you by doing the same thing,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Diaz pulling the ball. “Now, we’re watching the ball shoot to right field, we’re watching some effortless swings and the ball’s carrying.”

But for Diaz, hitting has never been the hard part. Even as a 6- and 7-year-old in Cuba, he said, he could always hit the ball harder than other kids. His uncle, Nelson Diaz, taught him his swing at about that age while his father traveled internationally on teaching missions for the Cuban government.

Adjusting to the speed of the game on the defensive side is where Diaz, 25, has had to put in the most work. That remains a process. He also leads major league shortstops with five errors.

Diaz’s first season in the United States can be safely discounted. It wasn’t until he got to Class A baseball that a coach suggested he adopt a daily routine, something he had never done in Cuba. After two months at Double-A last season, he started feeling comfortable in the batter’s box. He learned to lay off sliders in the dirt, the pitch that had been his poison up to that point.

That’s when things started clicking for Diaz. Since he got to Triple-A in August, then played in the Arizona Fall League and the majors, he has batted a combined .382. While his April production has been equal parts surprising and unsustainable, it also hasn’t come out of nowhere.

“I started feeling more comfortable at home plate, then I started making good contact and having quality at-bats,” Diaz said. “With this sport, it’s always mental.”