Cardinals second baseman Nolan Gorman, outfielder Jordan Walker, center, and shortstop Masyn Winn, right, wait to take the field for the first inning against the Marlins at Busch Stadium on Sunday, April 7, 2024.
For better or worse, the kids will steer the bus for the Cardinals in 2025. The roster won’t be completely devoid of veteran presence, but the driving force behind this coming season will undoubtedly come from the young homegrown players. The same players who’ve teetered on the cusp of breakout seasons but have come up short of their projected ceilings.
This week’s MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas confirmed that the Cardinals won’t get into the bidding wars for high-profile star players nor will they chase veteran upgrades to their current roster.
The lack of additions is by design, a conscious decision by the front office and ownership.
Instead, the success or failure rests largely on the shoulders of players like Lars Nootbaar, Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker.
“Just touching on those three names,” Cardinals president of baseball operations said this week in his suite at the Hilton Anatole hotel. “If they end up being those impactful type players, our lineup changes quite a bit.”
Cardinals second baseman Nolan Gorman looks to the scoreboard after striking out during a game against the Rays on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, at Busch Stadium.
The coming season will be about their development, not offseason moves.
It’s not an offseason of courting Sonny Gray. It’s not a winter marked by the splashy signing of Willson Contreras, taking him away from that rival club in the Windy City.
In that same vein, Matt Holliday isn’t working through the door bringing multiple All-Star appearances, multiple Silver Sluggers and a batting title with him.
It’s not a winter of executing a trade to acquiring middle-of-the-order sluggers like Marcell Ozuna, Paul Goldschmidt or Nolan Arenado.
The Cardinals let Goldschmidt walk away via free agency, and Mozeliak declared his intention to trade Arenado.
Gorman, Nootbaar and Walker have demonstrated the talent and ability to affect major-league games in critical ways. Of course, they also haven’t been relied on to carry the offensive load without being buoyed by veteran players.
Up until now, they also hadn’t been given a clear path without the threat of playing time being yanked from underneath them.
“If we can find the way to score runs on a consistent level, I do think we may surprise some teams,” Mozeliak said. “If you look at last year, our pitching kept us in games. Our bullpen carried us at times. Ultimately, we just really struggled scoring runs.
“This is going to be a big test, but it is about giving younger guys and opportunity, and it’s about seeing what they do with it.”
This past season, the Cardinals were the only team in the majors with a negative run differential — they scored 47 fewer runs than they allowed — to post a winning record.
They changed hitting coaches this offseason, firing Turner Ward and replacing him with Brant Brown, after they averaged 4.15 runs per game (the league average was 4.39 runs per game), ranked 11th in batting average (.248), 14th in on-base percentage (.312), 19th in slugging percentage (.392) and 22nd in home runs (165).
Without adding significantly to their lineup, the Cardinals have put the onus to score more runs on their returning hitters to take a step forward with their production.
Mozeliak specifically mentioned Gorman, Walker and Nootbaar as having looked at times like potential middle-of-the-order hitters. Though Mozeliak acknowledged that each player comes with their own question marks.
Whether that’s Gorman’s ability to cut down on his swing and miss or Walker’s ability to make necessary adjustments at the plate or Nootbaar’s ability to stay healthy and continue to make strides, there’s uncertainty about each player.
The Cardinals will also count on Contreras providing a stable and productive presence in the lineup now that he won’t have the wear, tear and injury risk of catching on a regular basis. They’re also hoping for Masyn Winn to build on his standout rookie season, and they must get continued improvement from players like Alec Burleson and Michael Siani.
There are no guarantees that all or any will make the desired progress to significantly improve the club’s overall production, but the Cardinals have committed to letting them play and seeing where the chips fall.
It’s a departure from the way both Gorman and Walker have been handled recently. Both saw their playing time fluctuate at times, and each went back to the minors this past season due to offensive struggles.
“I would imagine that players want to know that they’re going to be given a chance to sink or swim on their own,” Mozeliak said. “So I think just knowing that, going into the season they’re going to have confidence that they’re going to get that chance.”
Mozeliak has expressed optimism that the young players will respond favorably. He also asserted that his optimism wasn’t on “blind hope.” He and manager Oliver Marmol pointed to the early feedback, observations and video from the initial interactions with those players and their new hitting coach.
That let-the-kids-play approach isn’t limited to the position players. Young pitchers, both starters like Andre Pallante and relievers like Ryan Fernandez benefited from having a clear path last season. Marmol has cited both pitchers as feathers in the cap of pitching coach Dusty Blake and the Cardinals pitching department.
“(Fernandez) was in a tough spot,” Marmol said. “He was having to make adjustments in the moment in high leverage situations, and he did a really nice job of that. That’s not the norm. Some guys aren’t able to do that, and he did it really well.
“When you look at what Dusty and his staff has done with our pitching, I feel like there’s been a lot of adjustments on the fly at the highest level that have gone our way.
“You look at (Matthew Liberatore), you look at what some of those guys have done, it’s been productive. We’re going to continue to do that.”
The Cardinals may still add to their bullpen, but they have a group of relatively inexperienced pitchers such as Riley O’Brien and Chris Roycroft with the velocity, repertoire and mentality to fit in relief roles.
“We’re going to have to work through some highs and some lows,” Marmol said. “We’re okay with that but what could come out of Roycroft reaching his potential and a Riley (doing the same) is a big deal. It really is.”
A big part of the optimism expressed by Mozeliak and Marmol is also knowing that those players will be afforded the patience to continue working through their adjustments while facing big league competition.
It’s the way teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals have operated in recent years, and it’s now the way the Cardinals have decided to transitioning their young players into everyday regulars in the big leagues.
“Guys are getting up there younger and younger, and there’s a ton of development,” Marmol said. “You look at our staff — and I give our staff a lot of credit. It’s a lot of guys that spent time in the minor leagues that value development. It’s in their DNA to do exactly that, to teach. You look at Pop (Warner), you look at Stubby (Clapp), there’s a track record for doing those things.
“So development takes place at the big-league level, and there’s going to be a lot of it moving forward.”
