2023 St. Louis Cardinals player grades: The Starting Nine
By Mason Keith
![Oakland Athletics v St. Louis Cardinals Oakland Athletics v St. Louis Cardinals](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3000,h_1687,x_0,y_138/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/33/01hbrxsyr226w28exj04.jpg)
2B Nolan Gorman:
Gorman produced power numbers most of the season that have had every Cardinals fan excited. We are finally getting what has been hyped for years. That comes with a sacrifice. He has been mediocre at second base. He only has 5 errors, but accounts for -4 DRS/yr. Much more work to do with Ozzie Smith next spring training. On top of that, he has an above-average OPS but is carried by his slugging percentage. His strikeout percentage is at 31.9% which is around his MLB career average. But to get him to the next level of his development, he needs to focus on his plate discipline.
Overall Grade: C+
3B Nolan Arenado:
Nolan looked to be his career-average self for most of the season. But over the final month, Arenado is batting .184/.242/.246 over 114 AB. This man looks lost and hopefully can be found going into Spring Training. With 2023 being a lost season and most of the season has been meaningless games played, it should still be noticed how poorly Arenado has been this season. Even with a Hall of Fame career, this season is his worst so far and shouldn’t be ignored.
Aging eventually catches up to you, and maybe it has for Nolan Arenado. This was a decent season for any player in MLB. But for one of the top players in the game and your most expensive asset….gotta expect more moving forward.