So here's what has been made clear about the Cardinals so far this year: what has helped this team more than anything else has been when the pressure is off, and when the spotlight is not there. The people that are succeeding on this team are the ones who were either counted out or just didn't do well with all the attention on them.
Here's the best way to explain this. To move on from Yadier Molina, the Cardinals signed Willson Contreras to a mega-deal. Here's your catcher for the next several years, dude can hit and he's well loved, done deal. Last year Contreras gets injured behind the plate, he's moved to 1st for 2025 and has been...terrible. So not only have you given a roster spot to a subpar hitting choice, but now the catching spot is open. However, the majority of the Cardinals' 2025 catching choices have been successful so far. Ivan Herrera got off to a crazy start at the plate, then got injured. Since then, the position's been held by Pedro Pages, who's been excellent, with 14 hits and 10 RBIs in 17 games. And backing him up has been Yohel Pozo, who's hitting .316 already with 6 hits and 2 RBIs. Everyone was expecting Contreras to be THE guy, and the expectations needed to be lowered, so that now that the Cardinals have found the answer by stuffing three young catchers in a trench coat and winning with that, it's a good thing.
This also works for Nolan Arenado. Going into this season, the Cardinals weren't pleased with his 2024 work and were trying to trade him during the offseason. Then the season starts and, randomly, the old Nolan Arenado is back and he's hitting .282 with 22 hits and 10 RBIs. Once the expectations were lower and it wasn't about people waiting around for him to do well, he was great. Victor Scott's in that category as well, he came into 2025 as an alternate outfielder and is not only hitting well but stealing bases, with 8 so far. Even Matthew Liberatore has started being pretty sturdy as a starting man the exact second Cardinals fans stopped waiting for him to happen.
The one Cardinal who's doing exactly as well as everyone thought is Brendan Donovan, who seems as good as everyone had thought. Donovan, right now, is hitting .356, with 32 hits, and 13 RBIs. Donovan is one of those guys who can do just about anything, as he's great defensively, he's an amazing contact hitter, and he's still very fast. It's weird that, as this team has elapsed, someone like Brendan Donovan has become a sort of central figure for this team. You'd think it would be Arenado but he's sort of taking a lower rung approach. You'd think Burleson but he's just not getting it done this year. And until Winn comes back it'll be someone like Donovan, who...can get it done, and can be that guy. The Cardinals weren't sure whether or not Tommy Edman was that guy, and so they traded him to LA. I think they want to try a different approach with Donovan.
The Cardinals aren't doing terrific at the moment, but I still think they'll be better than they were last year, as they have the starting pitching, the versatility and the youth options necessary to win games. It's just a matter if, at last, the competition can withstand them.
Coming Tomorrow- Mike Trout isn't hitting for average right now, so here's an Angels hitter who is.
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