Bernie’s Bird Watching: 3 Things I Like — And Dislike — About Cardinals’ Spring Training So Far.

BIRD WATCHING

Good day to you. The Cardinals were off Monday, and it was a good time for a break. The spring-training grind tends to become tedious after the first two weeks, and once teams reach March, they can see the start of the regular season out there on the horizon. At the time I type this, the real baseball begins 24 days from now at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals are 3-6 through their first nine Grapefruit League games. I don’t care about spring-training records, and I don’t like to make too much of a fuss about statistics. I make exceptions on checking the numbers of younger hitters and pitchers who are A) trying to build confidence, B) trying to make the 26-man roster, C) trying to earn considerable playing time once the real baseball gets underway. And it’s important to take note of spring-time injuries because the physical breakdowns can impact your team – especially early in the season.

Before I offer today’s serving, let me get this out of the way to cover the stuff I write about.

I know it’s early.

I know the numbers are small samples.

Or sliver-sized samples.

I know that you can’t really trust spring-training performances, good or bad, and I am definitely aware of it.

I realize that veteran pitchers and hitters are “working on things” and aren’t concerned with their personal stats.

I realize the quality of the opponent – pitcher or hitter – factors into this. It’s easier to beat up on a minor-league caliber hitter or pitcher than an established major-league talent.

OK, let’s begin …

3 Things I Like About The Cardinals so far … 

1. The young pitching looks good. And that’s what you’re hoping to see. I’m not saying all is swell; prospect Tink Hence got slapped around in his one appearance, and hard-luck lefty Zack Thompson will be lost for several weeks (or longer) with a strained lat.

Overall, there are positive developments. Eight young or inexperienced pitchers – Matthew Liberatore, Ryan Fernandez, Quinn Mathews, Michael McGreevy, Gordon Graceffo, Riley O’Brien, Tekoah Roby, and Kyle Leahy – have combined for 24 innings pitched – and allowed two earned runs and eight hits. More importantly, the eight have walked 29 strikeouts with only four walks and three hit batters. There’s been a lot of swing-and-miss stuff, and the Cardinals need more of that in ‘25.

2. Victor Scott II, Round II: The second-year outfielder sure packed a lot of dynamite offense into his 12 early plate appearances. Scott is 5 for 9 with three walks, three stolen bases, three RBIs, a home run, a triple and a team-leading 10 total bases. His .556 batting average is backed by a superb 1.178 OPS.

This torrent of offense represents a continuation of what we saw from Scott late last season. In his final 19 games of 2024, Scott batted .311 with a .394 onbase percentage and .467 slug. His spree included three steals and five extra-base hits.

And that continuation is more meaningful to me. Scott is doing all that he can to win a roster spot – and the starting job in center field. A lot of this depends on Oli Marmol; he may prefer Lars Nootbaar or Michael Siani in CF.

3. Nolan Arenado’s bat speed: Hat tip on this to Kevin Wheeler, my friend and KMOX colleague who shared his research. Last season Arenado’s bat speed averaged 70.7 mph. So far this spring, Arenado is averaging 74 mph on his swings. This is relevant for two reasons: A) Arenado’s two best months in 2024 coincided with his two best bat-speed readings. And Arenado also spent the winter doing special training devised to quicken his hands. In his early spring-training games, 5 of 11 Arenado’s balls in play were clocked at 92 mph or higher – and those five shots averaged 98.5 miles per hour.

3 Things I DON’T Like About The Cardinals so far … 

1. The offense is brutal. Yes indeed it’s only been nine games. But as of late Monday afternoon, March 3, the Cardinals rank last among the 30 teams in batting average (.184), onbase percentage (.297), slugging percentage (.316) and OPS (.613). Plus: the Redbirds are 27th in runs scored, and only five teams have struck out more frequently than STL. Hey, we can say ‘it’s only spring training,’ which is factually correct. But doesn’t “it’s only spring training” apply to the other 29 teams as well?

2. Logjams. Always the logjams. This is more about the offense. Too many left-handed hitters. Too much redundancy in talent profiles, with similar players all over the place. Arenado being back at third base has caused the predictable chain reaction, and that complicates the sorting-out process.

Example: Arenado at third base means Nolan Gorman at second base and probably taking more at-bats as the designated hitter … which means more time, maybe a lot more time, for Brendan Donovan in left field .. which means Lars Nootbaar (possibly) in center field … and if Gorman starts a lot of games at DH, that will lead to fewer DH at-bats for Alec Burleson … and with Donovan in the lineup more frequently at left field, that means fewer starts in left field for Burleson … Burleson is the backup first baseman, but he can’t left-handed pitching. And with Marmol having Gorman, Willson Contreras, Burleson and Luken Baker as options for DH – that applies to Contreras only when he isn’t playing first base – that means fewer DH at-bats for catcher Ivan Herrera … and with Arenado still with the Cardinals, there’s no room at the in for rookie infielder Thomas Saggese, who needs to play. (Read: Memphis). On and on and on it goes. How can the Cardinals set a 26-man roster with an excess of puzzle pieces?

I need some Advil.

3. Quin Matthews, take your tools and go. The suave lefty – Baseball America’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season – was sent to the minor-league side of camp. The Cardinals’ next, best hope for a young rotation ace made just one two-inning start before the Cardinals moved him out of the big-league camp. This was expected, and it makes sense to have Mathews lock into a firm routine to get ready for his time at Triple A Memphis.

And it will be better for Mathews to log some Memphis time this season before the Cardinals promote him to the big-league rotation.

(Of course, we can’t do anything to interfere with co-aces Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz … sorry for the sarcasm.)

Anyway, I didn’t expect it to see Mathews moving his things to the minor-league barracks so soon. A theory: the Cardinals wanted Mathews to clear out before the fans began assuming he had a real shot of making the big-league rotation.

Thanks for reading …

–Bernie