Cardinals: Jeff Albert proven right by Carpenter, Goldschmidt

While Jeff Albert has been the subject of criticism, his value is being proven by the success of former and current Cardinals.

If you follow the St. Louis Cardinals and know anything about their fanbase, there is one name that is consistently thrown under the bus when the team struggles.

Yes. Even more so than the Dewitt’s and John Mozeliak.

His name is Jeff Albert. And it is time for fans to acknowledge how valuable he has been for the Cardinals.

Our own Andrew Heckroth broke down some of the numbers on Albert’s impact on the Cardinals offense this season. Both veterans and youngster’s are finding success under Albert’s tutelage, and it is helping the Cardinals to have one of the better offenses in all of baseball.  The numbers do show that this offense is producing.

But what the numbers do not necessarily show is that hitters like Matt Carpenter, Paul Goldschmidt, and Juan Yepez are crediting the Cardinals hitting coach for their resurgences in 2022. As fans mourn the fact that Carpenter is mashing for the Yankees, the former Cardinals himself regrets not listening to Jeff Albert.

In an interview with Ken Rosenthal, Carpenter had the following to say about Jeff Albert:

At Marucci, Carpenter sought an objective analysis of what he was doing wrong. Jeff Albert, the Cardinals’ hitting coach since 2019, might have been capable of providing such answers, given his deep knowledge of analytics. Carpenter, however, admits, “I just never bought into (analytics) like I should have.” Albert, like all club officials during the owners’ lockout, is prohibited by Major League Baseball from commenting publicly on players.

Carpenter has gone on to find major success this season, which I will break down later.

In another story with Ken Rosenthal, Paul Goldschmidt found himself struggling as well, and went to seek help from Jeff Albert.

Goldschmidt told Cardinals hitting coach Jeff Albert he was struggling to get his body into the right hitting position, even in the batting cage. Specifically, he was experiencing difficulty loading his lower half. Albert, who has a Master’s degree in exercise science from Louisiana Tech, helped enlighten Goldschmidt about biomechanics and the importance of body movement.

Neither guy, especially Carpenter, needed to go out of their way to credit Jeff Albert, but they did. And these are two of the hottest hitters in 2022. Let’s look at why Albert has been so impactful with major league hitters.

Veteran’s Finding New Success

Unforuntaely, Matt Carpenter’s hot streak is being done for the New York Yankees, but the adjustments Carpenter has made to his game are what Albert has been preaching.

For those who say “I grew up being told to just mash the baseball”, the game has changed. Pitchers do not think “just throw hard and make them miss”. They have bought into sports science and analytics more than hitters have, giving them an incredible advantage over hitters who refuse to adapt to modern baseball.

This is not just looking at numbers and letting front office guys change the game: this is about player’s using the data in front of them to give themselves the best chance at success.

Although Carpenter did not buy into this under Albert’s tenure, he did finally listen during his offseason tour, where his career was on the line and he knew he needed to make a change.

Now Carpenter is slashing .326/.448/.837 with 13 HR and 34 RBI in just 33 games for the Yankees. It’s clear that the adjustments Carpenter has made to his game has not only kept him in baseball, but has not made him one of the best bats in the game again.

Goldschmidt has always been a All-Star level slugger, but has found the influence of Albert to be important to his continued success. 2022 is the prime example of this, as he is slashing .330/.414/.590 with 20 HR and 70 RBI as the clear front runner for MVP in the National League.

These are just two examples of players who are finding success under Albert. Sure, you can point to veterans who are not finding the same success, but you will not find players who disagree with Albert’s approach. Albert is implementing hitting strategies that teams around the league have been bringing to the game for years, and veterans who pick up on that tend to find success.