Matt Adams doesn't know what will happen when Allen Craig comes off the disabled list on Friday. Or what will happen when Matt Carpenter is ready to come back a few weeks beyond that.
For now, Adams is living in the moment. He's shown up at a big league stadium the past nine days and seen his name written in the Cardinals lineup each day. He's yet to have a day off. And that's the way he wants it.
It's been a whirlwind week and a half for Adams since he made his big league debut at Dodger Stadium nine days ago. And not knowing what the future holds, he's trying to take advantage of each day and each at-bat.
"That's out of my hands," Adams said recently. "I just have to go out there and continue to keep competing and keep doing what I can do to help the club win. Whenever my time is up here - hopefully I can stay up here as long as I can - but if I get sent down, we'll go get after it in Memphis."
Adams has had a nine-game start that only five other Cardinals have had since 1941. He's had five multi-hit games, including another 3-for-5 game Monday against Atlanta that included a double, three RBI and run scored to raise his average to .382.
Only Bo Hart (seven) had more multi-hit games in his first nine big league games with the Cardinals. Terry Pendleton, Ken Reitz, Bill Virdon and Stan Musial also had five.
Adams has five doubles, tied for the most in baseball during that span. He also has four runs scored, five RBI and hit his first big league home run on Sunday against the Phillies. He moved up to the No. 5 spot in the batting order Monday.
"I think we've seen a good showing," manager Mike Matheny said recently. "I think we've seen a good example of what he can do. He's put together some big at-bats. I don't think he gets rattled. I think we also see a young hitter who is seeing some good pitching and sometimes he's going to struggle a little bit.
"I've been impressed with how he's really gone back to square one and what makes him good. I've been impressed overall. That's about what we were hoping for."
Adams was promoted to the big league club earlier than the Cardinals had hoped after playing just six weeks in Triple-A. But when Lance Berkman went down with a serous knee injury, they didn't really have much of a choice.
It's been a quick ascent through the Cardinals system for Adams since he was drafted in the 23rd round of the 2009 draft out of Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania.
The left-handed hitting Adams had a solid year at Low-A Quad Cities in 2010 before bypassing High-A and going straight to Double-A Springfield to start 2011. And the move proved to be right as Adams burst onto the national scene, hitting .300 with 32 home runs, 101 RBI to earn Texas League Player of the Year Award honors.
Adams started 2012 at Triple-A Memphis, where the Cardinals hoped he would stay all season to continue his development as a hitter. But he piled up more impressive numbers – a .340 average, nine home runs and 27 RBI in 37 games – before leaving them with no choice when Berkman went down.
And the big man hasn't showed any signs of slowing. He's 9-for-16 in his past four games with four doubles, a home run, four RBI and three runs scored.
"I'm feeling good at the plate," Adams said. "I feel like I'm swinging more at the pitches that I know that I can handle and laying off the pitcher's pitches.
"I like coming in and seeing my name in the lineup. I want to be able to contribute to the team and get after it."
He doesn't know how much longer he will see his name in the lineup. But if he continues to hit like this, the Cardinals will have a tough time taking him out.
