ST. LOUIS — In a conversation before the St. Louis Cardinals’ most recent homestand, hitting coach Turner Ward spoke about the importance of his hitters being selectively aggressive during at-bats.
The Cardinals haven’t been. They entered play Monday with the lowest OPS (.625) in the National League. The Cardinals have been unable to do damage on pitches in the zone, leading to one of their worst offensive starts to a season in recent memory. It’s what Ward believes is the biggest issue for the offense.
“With us moving forward, it’s about how we can be in a position as an offense to be ready to swing at pitches we can do damage on,” Ward said in a recent interview with The Athletic. “A really great swing, with a chase, is not productive.”
Fast forward to Monday afternoon, fresh off the Cardinals’ most disappointing weekend of 2024 after losing the series to the Chicago White Sox, and manager Oli Marmol delivered the same analysis.
“Being more aggressive on pitches in the zone would be something that sticks out to me,” Marmol said a few hours before a 4-3 loss to the New York Mets. “When it comes to overall damage, pulling the ball in the air. … That’s where damage is done. We haven’t done enough of that, but that goes hand in hand with swinging at pitches you can do that with.”
The heart of the Cardinals’ order certainly agrees. When St. Louis constructed its roster over the offseason, it did so under the impression that Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras would hit for power — as their lengthy track records would suggest. Yet as the season approaches the six-week mark, only Contreras has performed up to expectation.
Let’s look at what the metrics say about the Cardinals’ heavy hitters.
1. Willson Contreras
Contreras leads the team with six homers and a .932 OPS. He’s been the only consistent presence in the lineup. After spending most of last season hitting fifth in the order, Marmol bumped Contreras to the two-hole — usually reserved for the team’s overall best hitter — at the end of April.
Contreras ➡️ Freese’s Lawn#ForTheLou pic.twitter.com/ffbbI2KEde
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 5, 2024
Ward and his staff have emphasized being selectively aggressive, and Contreras has done a nice job of incorporating that discipline. His 14.6 percent walk rate ranks in baseball’s 93rd percentile and is a good indication of how well he’s seeing the ball. Another is his spray chart. When Contreras is locked in at the plate, he’ll often showcase his power by staying through the baseball and slugging the ball to right-center. Four of his home runs this year have been to either center field or to the opposite field, and his chart shows a heavy mix of balls hit to all fields.
Still, an offense can’t simply be propelled by one player. It’s certainly felt that way for Contreras this season though.
2. Paul Goldschmidt
For as encouraging as Contreras has looked, Goldschmidt has been the polar opposite. Slight regression from his 2022 National League MVP year could have been expected in 2023 and heading into this season, but surely no one could predict Goldschmidt hitting at a .203/.297/.273 clip.
Goldschmidt has always had exceptional bat-to-ball skills. But his numbers have nosedived. His metrics are down across the board, including average exit velocity (90.6 mph), barrel percentage (4.9 percent) and hard-hit percentage (43.2 percent). The most concerning area for Goldschmidt however is his strikeout rate.
Goldschmidt is striking out 30 percent of the time, a perplexing development for a player who has built a career by being selective at the plate. What’s even more concerning? His struggles against sliders. Opposing pitchers are throwing sliders to Goldschmidt nearly 20 percent of the time. Goldschmidt is whiffing on them 44 percent of the time. When players are close to coming out of a slump, many will acknowledge the quality of their at-bats…
This article was originally published by a theathletic.com . Read the Original article here. .