The St. Louis Cardinals are 8-2 in their last 10, and appear to be getting back on track. These players deserve a thank you for getting things in line.
The St. Louis Cardinals' plummet to last place in the division from the start of the season was entirely unexpected in the NL Central. St. Louis was expected to be the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the NL Central coming into the year, but from the get-go they looked unprepared and unready for what 2023 had in store.
Blame was subtly cast at Willson Contreras who felt like a bit of a scapegoat. The new catcher was the new sore thumb in the battery after the team rostered Yadier Molina at the position for years.
Crazily, the team has scored the most runs in the division yet still holds last place. That said, they are 8-2 in their last 10, while the Cubs are 2-8, the Reds 5-5, and the Pirates 3-7. The early season success of several teams in the division is slowing, while the Cards are heating up. With well over 100 games still left to go, there's plenty of time for the Cardinals to completely change how this season gets remembered.
But before we get there, let's acknowledge some key players who have contributed to this massive turnaround in the last 10 or so that has reignited hope for this year.
Players to thank for STL Cardinals turnaround: Willson Contreras, C/DH
Weeks ago, I had Contreras on a list inverted from this one: Players to blame for the skid the Cardinals were on. While I felt he was at least partially responsible for the pitching woes, it did seem unfair that the Cardinals completely moved him off his position and fumbled the announcement on what his role with the team would be while he wasn't behind the plate.
Contreras deserves a ton of credit for keeping his head up and staying prepared while the environment around him seemed, quite honestly, like a whirlwind of incompetence.
Eventually, Contreras was brought back in as catcher on May 15 and in the three games since being placed back in his natural position has committed zero errors and allowed no passed balls. That's a good start from the fielding standpoint.
The Cardinals should have known, Contreras was never going to be elite behind the plate in blocking or pitch framing. You bring him in primarily for his bat and as a serviceable option at catcher. That he has been over the last 10 games. He has 10 RBI and is slashing .231/.348/.539. All games prior he was at .265/.341/.393. His slugging has improved tremendously thanks to three homers in the last 10 games after just two the rest of the season.
There is still a long way to go for Contreras to prove the deal the Cards signed him to was worth it, but he has turned things around despite there being clear doubts about his future on the team.
Players to thank for STL Cardinals turnaround: Nolan Arenado, 3B
Nolan Arenado looked like he forgot how to play baseball to start the year.
Since, he's back to his old ways, with 16 RBI over the last 10 games including six home runs. In the first 34 games of the year, he batted in 18 runs and hit just three out of the park.
Over the last 10 Cardinals games, he's struck out just six times in 41 plate appearances, a 14.66% rate, a massive improvement from his 20.81% prior to the most recent 10-game STL stretch. Last year he was in the top 3% of the league in K% at 11.6%, so this could be an indication he's on his way back to what we've become accustomed to.
Importantly, he's hitting .450 on fastballs in this recent stretch, previously he was hitting .172. His average exit velocity has increased from 86.6 MPH to 91.0 MPH.
Arenado's OPS is 1.334 over the last 10, it was a measly .608 in the 34 games prior.
That's a lot of numbers to simply say this: Nolan Arenado looks a lot more like Nolan Arenado these days than he did to start the season.
As the typical cleanup man, Arenado's bat being right is a massive key to the Cardinals' continued success. St. Louis is the fifth-worst team in runners left on base, but Arenado can help change that.
Players to thank for STL Cardinals turnaround: Nolan Gorman
Ladies and gentlemen, it's the Nolan show in St. Louis. While Arenado is back to his strong offensive showings, Nolan Gorman is putting up impressive offensive performances of his own. To be honest, while this list is a thank-you to the players who have helped the recent turnaround, Gorman is one of the only players who has been on all season thus far for St. Louis.
As it stands so far, he's slugging second-best in the MLB and first in the National League all year at .629.
Gorman is currently on a nine-game hitting streak, including a three-hit game against the Brewers. He's slugging over a thousand and his OPS is an outstanding 1.548, the highest of any of the routine starters on the team in the recent 8-2 stretch.
At times, Gorman has been a splendid boost to the latter half of the lineup that isn't letting pitchers get any relief. Other days, he's been placed into the top half by Oli Marmol. This season he's batted third in 22 times in the first five slots of the lineup, and 14 times sixth or later.
His versatility doesn't stop on the batting side, as he's plugged in as a designated hitter but also played second base 16 times and third base six times, committing just a single error so far this season.
Gorman has been reliable, and in his second year is already showing he's here to stay for the long haul, regardless of where Marmol needs to place him.