The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have reached agreement with first baseman/outfielder Allen Craig on a five-year contract through the 2017 season with a club option for 2018.
“We are pleased to have reached agreement with Allen on a new multi-year deal,” stated Cardinals Senior Vice President/General Manager John Mozeliak. “He has been a productive middle of the lineup hitter throughout his professional career and we look forward to Allen’s continued contributions.”
The 28 year old Craig has driven in 150 runs in his 238 games played at the Major League level. Craig batted .307 last season (6th in the National League) and despite missing the early portion of the season while he recovered from off-season knee surgery, was still able to finish with 22 home runs and 92 RBI with a .522 slugging pct. in 119 games. Craig led all Major Leaguers with a .400 batting mark with runners in scoring position in 2012 and over the past two seasons, his .374 (68-for-182) batting average with runners in scoring position ranks 2nd only to Joey Votto (.379) of the Reds among all Major League players.