Cardinals: Matt Carpenter helps further piece together Mike Shildt’s firing

‘Help me fix this’

After seeing his batting average fall from .257 in 2018 to .169 by 2021, Carpenter found himself out of job when the Cardinals decided not to pick up his club option. It was then he reached out to other players who have come to embrace analytics in their hitting approach.

Carpenter first reached out to Joey Votto, and former teammates Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Holliday, according to Rosenthal.  Eventually, he ended up working  with hitting geru Tim Laker, who uses an analytical approach and works with Goldschmidt and Arenado.

Laker describes his first session with Carpenter as looking “really rough”, and ‘you wouldn’t have guessed have guessed he was a big leaguer who has had the kind of success he had. He was that far gone.”

Before hooking up with Laker, Carpenter spent time at Mariucci, a bat company, using their intense approach to work on his swing. Laker and Marucci, both use similar approaches that Jeff Albert uses with the Cardinals.

Carpenter now admits, “I just never bought into (analytics) like I should have.” In other words, Carpenter is indicating he should have been more willing to embrace Jeff Albert’s philosophy.

As stated earlier, Rosenthal’s piece doesn’t mention if Mike Shildt played any role in Carpenter’s rejection of analytics. Shildt’s name isn’t even mentioned. Nevertheless, with the rumors and reports of a disconnect between Shildt and Albert(including the front office), this looks like another piece of the puzzle in Mike Shildt’s dismissal.

However, there is another Athletics piece written in October, before Shildt’s dismissal, that could be even more telling.

Cardinals hitters recommitted to Albert’s philosophy

On Oct. 3, 11 days before Shildt’s dismissal, Katie Woo published a piece in the Athletic titled “Why the Cardinals recommitted to hitting coach Jeff Albert’s philosophy, and how it’s paying off.”

In the article, Woo outlines how the Cardinals went from one of the worst offenses in baseball in June to one of the most potent in September, culminating with the 17-game winning streak. She also points out how Jeff Albert’s philosophy focuses on exit velocity, hard hit percentage, expected slugging percentage and barrel percentage. in order to drive the ball hard to create extra base hits.

As 2021 progressed, the team started getting away from this philosophy, helping to lead to the June team hitting slump. Tommy Edman, in a postgame video conference stirred the post in which he stated the Cardinals “hadn’t necessarily done the greatest job in making a game plan for how guys are suppose to throw us day by day and working on things pregame that are specifically tailored to prepare ourselves for that.”

As Woo pointed out, Edman’s comment caused a stir and seemed to be a direct shot at Albert and his philosophy. But as Edman admitted later, it was actually a comment to point out how the Cardinal hitters had strayed away from what the team had been wanting them to implement. In other words, there was an internal belief that abandoning that approach had led to the offensive decline.

After a team meeting, the Cardinals recommitted to Albert’s approach, and slowly the results began to show for the better. Across the board, the key hitters in the Cardinals lineup began show improvement. Paul Goldschmidt, Tyler O’Neil, Nolan Arenado, Tommy Edman, Dylan Carlson, Harrison Bader, and even Edmundo Sosa showed marked improvement.

Quoting from Woo’s piece, “Since re-pledging their faith to Albert’s approach after their infamous June, Cardinal hitters have began to reap the rewards.” In her piece, Goldschmidt, O’Neill and Edman endorse or credit Albert’s approach for turning teams offense around.

From the organizational side, Woo quotes John Mozeliak as saying, “I do think (Albert’s) message is resonating with hitters. I think overall they are feeling more confident in the way the are going about the process, and that’s a good thing.”

What’s notable to me from Woo’s article, is there isn’t any quote from Mike Shildt. It also stands out to me that the players didn’t mention Shildt either. With team’s offensive turnaround, you would think a quote from Shildt, giving some credit to Albert, would’ve been forth coming.

In summary…

Let me be clear, I’m not suggesting that Matt Carpenter’s refusal to embrace Jeff Albert’s philosophy was the only reason for Mike Shildt’s ouster as the Cardinal’s skipper. What I am trying to convey, that I believe, it was one of the rungs in the ladder which led to Shildt’s firing in October.

I believe when the Cardinals’ hitters strayed away from Albert’s philosophy, Shildt didn’t push back with his players. Especially when it came to Carpenter, or other Cardinals who weren’t sold on Albert’s analytical approach.

In other words, the ladder was entirely built on Shildt’s lack of commitment to Albert’s hitting philosophy. We know the organization is committed to Albert’s philosophy from Bill DeWitt all the way down to the coaching staff. At least that’s the strategy the Cardinals ownership and management have embraced, and expect everyone to be on board.

Finally, let me say, I’m not trying to get a square peg to fit in a round hole. Especially since Ken Rosenthal’s and Katie Woo’s articles don’t mention Mike Shildt. But, my point is, it fits into the puzzle of Mike Shildt’s ousting in October.