Remember when the Cardinals seemed ready to roll out an outfield of Lars Nootbaar and Jordan Walker flanking Tommy Edman this season? Those were good times.
Edman failed to recover from wrist surgery. Walker hit his way back to the minors and Nootbaar got hurt, again.
Those developments — along with Willson Contreras’ broken arm and slow starts by Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado — forced manager Oliver Marmol into constant lineup shuffling through the season’s first half.
That led to some good, bad and ugly results. Our grades reflect that:
Masyn Winn
The Cardinals knew he was ready to shine as a fielder, but they weren’t sure about his hitting. During last season’s big league trial he batted just .172 in 37 games while looking overmatched. This season Winn is batting .284 with 3.5 WAR as one of the sport’s best young shortstops. His arm strength ranks in the 96th percentile and his sprinting speed ranks in the 88th percentile. He has handled himself like a 10-year veteran while hitting .286 with runners in scoring position and .286 with RISP and two outs. He is hitting .272 with two strikes and .323 while behind in the count. If only every Cardinal had such a sound approach to hitting.
People are also reading…
Grade: A-plus
Willson Contreras
He was having a terrific season until J.D. Martinez cut his forearm in half during an ugly catcher’s interference incident. Contreras posted a .925 OPS in April and he started May 7-for-18 with three doubles and two homers. He worked hard to improve his pitch framing which, unfortunately, led to him reaching way too far for a pitch during the fateful Martinez at bat. Contreras made a surprisingly quick recovery from his ugly fracture. He used a few minor league games to get his timing back, then heated up in July while posting a 1.036 OPS.
Grade: A
Alec Burleson
Back in spring training Burleson looked like the odd man off the 26-man roster. Injuries gave him an opening and he made the most of it, hitting .288 with an .814 OPS and a team-high 53 RBIs. He doesn’t walk much (4.1 percent, 6th percentile), but he doesn’t strike out much either (13.5 percent, 93rd percentile). Burleson heated up in July, batting .340 with a 1.041 OPS. Overall, he has been one of the team’s better clutch hitters, batting .286 with a .796 OPS with runners in scoring position. He has limited range as a corner outfielder (4th percentile), but he gives maximum effort and possesses a strong arm (77th percentile).
Grade: A
Brendan Donovan
He made a resounding comeback from elbow surgery and settled into left field when injuries left the Cardinals suddenly short of outfielders. He brings good range (70th percentile) but poor arm value (4th percentile) to the position. Donovan’s production (.276, .756 OPS) is in line with his first two seasons. His on-base percentage has declined from .394 as a rookie to .365 last season and .345 this year. But he has held up against left-handed pitchers (.269) this season and his OPS has climbed month-to-month this season, from .688 to .735, .814 and .837. He struggled hitting leadoff earlier this year, batting .225 in that slot, but he done damage while hitting fifth (.885 OPS), sixth (.804) and seventh (.856). And he is batting .281 with runners in scoring position.
Grade: A
Michael Siani
He came to spring training as a depth outfielder likely to start the season in Memphis and serve as an injury replacement. Siani ended up as the regular center fielder, thus exceeding expectations by a ton. His ability to cover both alleys and make ridiculous diving catches made him a favorite of manager Oliver Marmol and Cardinals pitchers. His fielding range grades in the 100th percentile, setting the standard for all other outfielders. Offensively, though. Siani is just a No. 9 hitter who can bunt and run (10 stolen bases), but not hit much (.227 overall, .154 with runners in scoring position).
Grade: B-plus
Pedro Pages
The Cardinals set out to improve their pitching environment this season. Adding veteran starters was key to that. Upgrading the bullpen was another. Contreras’ improvements were huge. And Pages’ ability to step in at catcher and work seamlessly with the pitching staff was one more plus. He does a nice job framing pitches and he has thrown out 28 percent of runners attempting to steal. While hitting has never been his calling card — as evidenced by his .213 batting average and .599 OPS — he is 7-for-23 with 13 RBIs batting with runners in scoring position.
Grade: B
Ivan Herrera
Offensively, he filled in admirably while catching in Contreras’ absence. Herrera gave the team some much-needed heft from the right side of the plate, hitting .279 with three homers and 19 RBIs in 172 at bats. Unfortunately, opponents went 41-for-44 on stolen base attempts against him as his inability to control the running game became painfully obvious. Pages is a better fielder than Herrera, and his ability to frame pitches and work with the hurlers makes him the better choice to back up Contreras. That leaves Herrera stuck in Memphis as a potential trade chip.
Grade: B-minus
Matt Carpenter
The Bench Captain has been OK on limited duty, batting .248 with a .319 on-base percentage. But he has just two homers in 101 at bats and he is hitting just .192 with runners in scoring position. Carpenter is 1-for-7 as a pinch-hitter, and he offers no value as a defensive replacement or pinch-runner. But other Cardinals veterans welcomed his leadership assistance.
Grade: C
Lars Nootbaar
Injuries have once again prevented him from hitting his stride. After batting .261 with a .784 OPS last year, he has taken a step back (.229, .712) so far this season. Nootbaar was hitting well in the month of May (.275, .846 OPS) when he got hurt again. He has gone 6-for-29 with one RBI and six strikeouts since returning from his most recent IL stint. When healthy, Nootbaar is a good corner outfielder who grades out poorly when he plays center field. And like many of his teammates, he hasn’t been a great clutch hitter. Nootbaar is batting just .209 with runners in scoring position.
Grade: C-minus
Nolan Gorman
He has 17 homers and 47 RBIs while primarily playing second base. That’s great. But he is batting just .207 and he leads the majors with 129 strikeouts — and dozens of them were especially ugly. When Gorman is off, he’s all the way off. In June he hit .141 with 42 strikeouts in 110 plate appearances. He has had hot stretches, too, while posting a .920 OPS in May and an .862 OPS so far in July. But overall, he hit just .176 with runners in scoring position and .167 with RISP and two outs. His fielding at second base remains an issue, too, since his range ranks in the seventh percentile.
Grade: C-minus
Nolan Arenado
After posting an .891 OPS in 2022, he slipped to .774 last season and .704 so far this season. After hitting 56 homers in the previous two seasons, he has just eight so far this season. He went into the break with better vibes after hitting .320 with a .770 OPS in 13 July games while persevering through nagging injuries. Over the whole season, though, Arenado is hitting just .241 with a .609 OPS against left-handed pitching. That helps explain why this team has struggled against southpaws. His OPS with runners in scoring position is just .640. His fielding metrics at third base have suffered stark regression and he botched routine plays earlier this season. Arenado is earning $35 million and his WAR through 90 games is just 1.1.
Grade: D-plus
Paul Goldschmidt
Age-related regression is a thing and Goldschmidt turns 37 in September. His OPS plunged from .981 in his MVP season to .810 last year and .664 this season, forcing manager Oliver Marmol to move him lower in the batting order. Goldschmidt is batting just .172 with a .491 OPS (!) with runners in scoring position. Overall, his 28.2 percent strikeout rate is his worst since his rookie season. His fielding metrics at first base slipped as well. He has been somewhat better at the plate in June, batting .259 with a .717 OPS. But Goldschmidt is earning $26 million this season and his WAR through 92 games is 0.5.
Grade: D
Dylan Carlson
Ideally, he would have gained more at bats in the minors after recovering from his shoulder injury. Ideally, he would have gained regular at bats after returning from the minors. But life is not always ideal, so Carlson didn’t have much opportunity to regain the swing he enjoyed this spring. He started 0-for-17 after rushing back from injury, then he fell into increasingly limited usage. He has gone 24-for-97 (.247) since his terrible start — albeit with zero homers, just 11 RBIs and a .553 OPS. He is overqualified to be this team’s fifth outfielder, so barring further injuries he could become a trade chip.
Grade: D
Victor Scott II
His major league debut went badly. Injuries gave him a chance to seize the center field job and he failed. In 21 games, he went 5-for-59 with 15 strikeouts. Then he returned to Triple-A Memphis and continued to struggle, hitting just .209 with a .564 OPS. While his rough start in the big leagues was understandable, given his rapid rise, Scott’s inability to hit in the minors this year has been discouraging. His speed remains his best asset — he has 27 steals in 32 tries in the minors — but he must regain the confidence that helped him hit .323 at Double-A Springfield in 2023.
Grade: D
Jordan Walker
He made a strong rookie showing while hitting .276 with 16 homers and 51 RBIs last year. Walker made incremental progress in right field, too, and seemed on his way to a fine major league career. Then came his devastating sophomore slump. He struggled out of the gate for the Cardinals this season (9-for-58, 18 strikeouts) and returned to Memphis. The Cardinals hoped he could find his power stroke with regular at bats there, but he didn’t. He has just four homers in 289 at bats at the Triple-A Level this year. After hitting well when he initially returned to Memphis this year — .323 in his first 15 games — he faded to .243 with a .683 OPS.
Grade: D
Brandon Crawford
It’s nice having a veteran with a winning pedigree on hand to help mentor Winn at shortstop. Unfortunately, Winn played so well that Crawford has mostly sat in the dugout. Crawford is 10-for-62 this season, with a .182 batting average in 16 games filling at shortstop and a .091 mark filling in for Arenado at third base. He’s only made one error in his limited chances in the field, but his range has been an issue for years. Â
Grade: D
Jose Fermin
He has raked at Triple-A Memphis this season, batting .325 with a 1.021 OPS. But that production has not translated to success in limited at bats at the big league level. He is 6-for-46 with zero RBIs during his recalls this season and he is 1-for-15 as a pinch-hitter.
Grade: D