Willson Contreras might be a great slugger, but there’s no way he can be Nolan Goldwalker.
Back from injury, the Cardinals’ Contreras had a .551 slugging percentage heading into his return game Monday. That’ll play. And that’ll help — he can make up for some of the offense that’s missing.
But he can’t be Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Jordan Walker all in one.
And that’s the thing: Sure, the Cardinals offense has been better since May 12, thanks in part to Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan and Masyn Winn. But that’s just a small sample size. If the Cardinals are going to be a better-than-.500 club — and a playoff-contending club — they need offense from the guys they were depending on, be it the big-money duo or the breakout player of 2023.
But Nolan Arenado hasn’t been Nolan Arenado.
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And Paul Goldschmidt hasn’t been Paul Goldschmidt.
And Jordan Walker, well, he doesn’t even have a chance to be Jordan Walker because he’s not even on the team.
And really, the “Nolan” in the silly “Nolan Goldwalker” also could be for Nolan Gorman. His year has been a roller coaster — his on-base plus slugging percentage has been as low as .573 on May 7, as high as .829 on June 4, and on Monday, entering the home series against Atlanta, .693. But at least Gorman’s hitting balls over the wall (albeit in bunches) — he has 16 homers, the same number as Arenado (six) and Goldschmidt (10) combined.
Arenado didn’t play again Monday because of forearm pain, but manager Oliver Marmol said Arenado is close to playing and won’t go on the injured list.
But this season, his lack of slugging has been, I’ll say, the second-most astounding storyline (first being that Walker has been in Class AAA for most of the season). Nolan Arenado — Nolan Arenado! — has a .371 slugging percentage. For his career (12 years), his slugging percentage is .520.
Famously, Arenado works diligently. One of the most passionate athletes I’ve ever covered. Cares so much. He’s working on it. Been working on it. But it’s been such a detriment to the Cardinals to have Arenado be reduced to a “singles hitter.” He’ll figure it out at some point — he can’t say this bad. But how many games will have passed by then? How many winnable games or close games will have been lost?
Goldschmidt has had some better swings in recent weeks. But for the year, his slugging percentage (.363 entering Monday) is even worse than Arenado’s.
Here at Busch Stadium, much has been made about Mother’s Day. There’s even a reference at the top of the team’s official game notes. Since Mother’s Day (May 12), the Cards entered Monday with the National League’s best record (24-13). Credit hitting coach Turner Ward, mentioned occasionally in this column space, for getting “Goldy” and some guys going (now, hitting with runners in scoring position remains a frightening problem for the Cards).
Perhaps you recall my column from the day after Mother’s Day — Goldschmidt sure suddenly looked locked in. And from Mother’s Day on, the veteran has hit eight homers with a .464 slugging percentage and a .785 OPS. Even those aren’t All-Star numbers. But at least better than before.
Still, 76 games into the 2024 season, the 2022 National League MVP has a .662 OPS.
As for Walker, he’s working. He needs to hit more liners. For the 2024 Cardinals, just 4.8% of his batted balls were line drives. In Class AAA, he’s up to 23.9% (last season for St. Louis, his line-drive percentage was 17.9%). He’ll return to the Cardinals at some point, and here’s thinking he’ll be a Cardinals All-Star at some point in his career. But the team counted on offensive production from Walker this season. And Walker has thus hurt the club.
On Monday, Contreras returned to a loud ovation when stadium PA man John Ulett first announced the catcher’s name. He of a .920 OPS, Contreras amazingly returned to the Cardinals lineup just 48 days after a major leaguer swung and his bat hit Contreras’ arm as if it was a curveball. Contreras is a tough dude. Old school and all that. And he brings so much to this Cardinals club and clubhouse.
But for a team that 18th in baseball in slugging percentage, supplanting slug is particularly such a big deal.
“I think as people are talking through where we’re at right now,” Marmol said, “part of it is missing the fact that like you have a high on-base guy in (Lars) Nootbaar and a big OPS-slug guy and Willson not in the lineup. And we’ve been able to navigate some pretty good games without those two guys. That’s a that’s a big deal. So having them back is definitely important.”
The outfielder Nootbaar took batting practice on Monday and could return soon, as well. And Tommy Edman, who hasn’t played yet in 2024, could make a rehab assignment as soon as this weekend.
Those are nice players. And the Cards have some nice players producing, notably Burleson, Donovan and Winn.
But there are still 85 games to go. They need their elite players to be elite.
In the meantime, their elite offensive catcher is back in the lineup — and it couldn’t have happened sooner.
In today’s 10 a.m. “Ten Hochman” sports video — brought to you by Siteman Cancer Center — Ben Hochman discusses Brendan Donovan’s latest RBI streak. Also, a happy birthday shoutout to Mindy Kaling! And as always, Hochman picks a random St. Louis Cards card!