Cardinals' hitting coach Brant Brown already working with key hitters

The St. Louis Cardinals' new hitting coach Brant Brown has already been busy just one month into his new job.

According to John Denton of MLB.com, Brown has already reached out to two key hitters for the Cardinals in Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker. Part of the Cardinals' success both now and in the future hinges on these two players' abilities to hit at the major-league level, and Brown is well aware of their importance to the team.

Gorman, 24, had a fantastic sophomore season in 2023. He had a .236/.328/.478 slash line for a 116 OPS_ to go along with 27 home runs. His strikeout rate (31.9%) was a bit elevated, but his power outweighed any strikeout concerns. He took a step back in 2024, however, and he finished with a .203/.271/.400 slash line and a K rate of 37.6%. The hope is that Nolan Gorman can cut back on his strikeouts while maintaining his power stroke.

Jordan Walker, still only 22, also struggled offensively in 2024. Walker slashed .201/.253/.366 last year in the majors. His lack of success was primarily due to an inability to hit the ball in the air. He had a 50.9% groundball rate and just a 6.9% line drive rate. Walker was sent to Triple-A Memphis for quite a long time in 2024 to fix these issues, and he was able to cut his ground ball rate to 44.4% there and bring his line drive rate up to 22.9%.

According to John Denton, "Brown’s relatability to players, his love of teaching hitting and his all-gas, no-brakes mentality are some of the reasons the Cardinals hired him to try to repair an offense that slumped badly in 2024. Skip Schumaker raved about the intensity and attention to detail that Brown coached with when they worked together with the Marlins."

Brown and Nolan Gorman live close to each other, so their connection was easy to make; the two will work out of Scottsdale, Arizona during the offseason. Brown intends on meeting with Jordan Walker in Jupiter, Florida in December as well to train.

Brant Brown was once the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins, and he helped lead a middling team to a postseason performance that year. Brown was able to help Luis Arraez and Jorge Soler reach new heights offensively.

After his time in Miami, Brown became the offensive coordinator and bench coach for the Seattle Mariners. He was dismissed from his role on May 31st due to a lackluster performance from the team's offense. The hope is that Brown can bring the success he had with the Marlins to St. Louis.

For now, Brant Brown is intent on building relationships with these cornerstone offensive players. Once the players and coach are on the same page, improvements and adjustments can be made. Hopefully, Brant Brown can capitalize on Walker's and Gorman's strengths to once again make them threats in the Cardinals' lineup in 2024 and beyond.