5 Cardinals spring training stories that were overblown

Offensive incompetence with runners in scoring position

The story: One of the biggest issues that led to yet another disappointing season for the Cardinals was the team's complete inability to tally a clutch hit. In 2024, the team hit a putrid .229 (27th in the league) with runners in scoring position and a 26% strikeout rate in those spots. In almost 1,300 at-bats with a runner in scoring position, the team only drove in 433 runs (26th) and hit 27 homers. This led to an 84 OPS+, which was good for 29th in the majors. In the awful 2023 season, the Cardinals outperformed all of those numbers and almost doubled the number of home runs they hit.

As the linked story noted, halfway through the spring season, the Cardinals ranked near the bottom of the league again in each of those categories. Again, it was only spring training, but new hitting coach Brant Brown was brought in to hopefully move past those issues, and it appeared that they had reared their ugly heads once again.

The results: Through 18 games this season, which is the same number of spring games the above stats were from, the Cardinals and Brant Brown looked to have unleashed something with runners in scoring position. As a team, the Cardinals are hitting .269 with an .810 OPS. In 201 at-bats, they have totaled 74 RBIs, which is second in all of baseball. Their 54 hits in these spots also ranks second in the majors. What is also encouraging is that they are also getting plenty of chances to hit with runners in scoring position, which will continue to put the pressure on other teams, and a lot of that success begins with Nootbaar's move to the leadoff spot.

The Cardinals have 21 extra-base hits with runners on second and/or third, which means either that the hit in that spot sets up the next hitter with another chance for an RBI or that hit was a homer so at least two runs scored in the at-bat.

Remaining concern: While the 74 RBIs and high batting average are great overall, much of that production is coming from a few players. Pedro Pages and Brendan Donovan lead the team with nine RBIs with RISP, and next on the list is Ivan Herrera, who is out for the next few weeks at least. Willson Contreras is tied for the team lead with RISP, thanks to the top of the order performing, but he is only hitting .182 with eight strikeouts in those spots. Contreras has shown some signs of a breakout coming, so this will hopefully be on the upswing soon. Five players are currently hitting .333 or higher when a runner is in scoring position, with 10 others sitting at .273 or below. Beyond Contreras, Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn (who is currently on the IL) will need to pick up the slack at the bottom of the lineup.

Another drawback of having so many opportunities with runners in scoring position is that it can make some other stats tell another story. The Cardinals rank 27th in the league by leaving 4.29 runners in scoring position per game. Both the number of runners in scoring position and the ability to capitalize in these spots will continue to separate the playoff teams from those that are in the bottom of their divisions.