“Front-loading our lineup is going to help us,” said DeJong. “Guys are going to put up runs in a hurry.”

There should be many runners in scoring position during early-game DeJong at-bats. If DeJong produces, his name will be front and center.

“I don’t love the attention, directly,” he said. “I’d rather just prove it and earn it, if that makes sense. For us, it’s just about hitting for power consistently through the lineup and probably speed (Harrison Bader and Kolten Wong) at the bottom and then cycle it back. I really like how I fit in at either three or five (in the order).”

In 2018, DeJong batted .223 as a No. 3 hitter, but the year before he hit .292 with 11 of his 25 homers and an .855 OPS while third in the lineup.

DeJong missed 45 games in May and June last season with a fractured finger on his right hand, as a result of being hit by a pitch from Philadelphia’s Luis Garcia. He had a pin in his finger for the balance of the season and he said he didn’t feel normal until the Cardinals’ August run, in which they were 22-6.

“We were all playing well as a group and we were winning,”DeJong said. “I realized it wasn’t about me.”