3 things the Cardinals can learn from the Arizona Diamondbacks

The Arizona Diamondbacks are the National League Champions. They swept the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers. They then defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in 7 grueling games in the NLCS. The 6th-seeded Snakes beat some of the best teams in baseball to make it to the World Series, and they have the chance to win it all should they beat the Texas Rangers.

It is always exciting to hear about an underdog succeed. The unexpected makes sports more exciting. The Diamondbacks are a good team, and they deserve to be in the World Series. They beat the mighty Dodgers and outplayed the juggernaut Phillies. The Cardinals would be wise to take some advice from the National League Champions.

Redbird Rants' own Curt Bishop recently wrote about lessons the Cardinals can learn from the Texas Rangers. The main idea was that the Cardinals should spend money this offseason. The Diamondbacks present a different case, however. The Diamondbacks, according to Spotrac, had the 23rd-largest payroll this past year. They did not spend their way into the playoffs necessarily. How did they make such a great run in the playoffs?

Instead, the Diamondbacks focused on speed, youth, and clubhouse culture to make their way through the playoffs this year. Arizona looked at the new rules for 2023 and ran with them, unlike the Cardinals. They also adopted a youth infusion this year with some wily veterans to help out on the edges. Lastly, the Diamondbacks maintained consistency at the manager level despite some years of bad play under his leadership.

Here are three things the Diamondbacks did well this year to make it to the World Series and how the Cardinals can mirror these for success in 2024.

Speed

Speed kills. It puts pressure on the opposing pitcher and defense. Not only do stolen bases bring baserunners one step closer to scoring, but taking the extra base helps mightily. The Diamondbacks were one of the best teams at both taking the extra base and stealing bases this past year.

According to Baseball Savant, the Diamondbacks ranked 3rd in all of baseball in Runner Runs behind only the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles. They stole a total of 166 bases all year, good for second in all of baseball. They were only caught stealing 26 times. That gives them an 87% success rate on stolen bases, one of the best in all of baseball in 2023.

Not only were the Diamondbacks great at stealing bases, but they were also good at taking the extra base. Runners for the Diamondbacks had 1,269 opportunities to take the extra base in the regular season. They attempted to take the extra base in 38% of those opportunities and were successful 468 times for a 98% safe per advance attempt rate, one of the best in all of baseball.

The playoffs are a much smaller sample size, but the D-Backs have a 100% success rate when taking the extra base, and they have stolen the most bases (16) in the playoffs thus far. They have only been caught stealing 3 times.

Conversely, the Cardinals ranked 18th with -3 Runner Runs and only had 101 stolen bases this year (29 caught stealing). Additionally, the Cardinals only attempted to take the extra base 32% of the time, last in the league. Even though the Cardinals have a below-average sprint speed as a team (27.1 ft/sec) and are behind the Diamondbacks (27.7 ft/sec), they still didn't try and beat the opponent on the basepaths. St. Louis would be wise to follow the Diamondbacks' lead with speed next year.

Youth

The average age of a player for the Diamondbacks this year was 28.5 years old. The average age for a Cardinal this year was 29.6 years old. While one year doesn't seem to be much different, the teams were 5 positions away from each other in all of baseball just last year.

Youth won't necessarily lead a team to the playoffs, and veterans won't either; a combination of both is ideal for a team. The best teams have wily veterans, stars in their primes, and young players with athleticism and drive. The Diamondbacks have a good combination of these items, particularly young players.

Of the 9 players on the Diamondbacks who have the most playing time this year, 4 of them have 1 year or less of service time in the majors. Their 4 bench players according to Roster Resource all have 1 year or less of service time. The third-best starting pitcher in their playoff rotation is a rookie. Three of their key bullpen pieces are all rookies. Suffice it to say, the Diamondbacks are a young team with various rookies making key contributions in the playoffs.

The Cardinals have 4 players with 1 year or less of service time making contributions at the major league level as well. However, their top three starting pitchers all have at least 4 years of service time in the majors, and virtually none of their bullpen pieces have less than 1 year of service time accrued. The Cardinals would be wise to follow in the footsteps of the Diamondbacks and lean into the youth infusion that is happening across baseball.