Since Munoz became a Cardinal in the Stephen Piscotty trade, the stocky, smiling Swiss Army knife has impressed teammates and officials with his approach. He forced the Cardinals to take him with them due to his tremendous spring one year ago. He made 26 starts and played nearly 700 innings while appearing at six different positions during his first season in the majors. His .763 on-base plus slugging percentage ranked eighth among the 20 MLB rookies who appeared in more than 100 games.

His upside needs no translation. It’s his immediate future that remains foggy.

The 24-year-old Munoz’s competition against 26-year-old Drew Robinson continued Sunday, when Munoz started in right field before switching to shortstop in a 9-1 Grapefruit League loss to the New York Tebows.

If veteran Jedd Gyorko and his sore calf can dodge the disabled list, and the sense Sunday was that they would, the Cardinals’ claimed bench spots could read as follows: Gyorko, Jose Martinez, Tyler O’Neill, Matt Wieters and either Munoz or Robinson.