9 Cardinals who have been on fire the first month of the 2024 season, 9 who are cold

Ice-cold: Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar

Speaking of bats that were supposed to help carry the Cardinals offense this year, both Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar have struggled to live up to the task this year, and while I have faith both will figure things out, they are hurting the Cardinals in a big way right now.

Gorman has always been a streaky hitter, so he's more likely than not in another one of his frustrating slumps. With that being said, his slumps are far more noticeable when they come alongside the rest of the Cardinals' lineup, and it may take someone like Gorman to hit the club's way out of the funk they are in.

Gorman has four home runs on the year and is slugging just .363, something that has to change as soon as possible. Gorman's high strikeout rate is much more difficult to bear when the extra-base hits aren't coming in other at-bats. Gorman continues to moved further and further down in the lineup, benched for some games, and was even pinch hit for in game one of the doubleheader against the Tigers in favor of Jose Fermin.

The Cardinals need Gorman out of his funk pronto, and they'll just have to keep playing him until he's able to do that.

Lars Nootbaar has been lagging behind offensively as well since his return from the injured list a few weeks ago. Nootbaar started his season on a hot streak but has fallen off offensively in recent weeks. Nootbaar is now slashing .180/.296/.311 in his 61 at-bats, and while a few quality games would turn that slash line around quickly, it does not change the fact that it's hurt them so far.

Nootbaar has mostly played in the corner outfield so far for St. Louis, but yesterday manager Oli Marmol decided to give Nootbaar time in center field for both games of their doubleheader. This is the right call right now, as the Cardinals need to make room for bats like Alec Burleson and Ivan Herrera over Michael Siani. Still, Nootbaar needs to get his bat going, or it'll become questionable until then about who provides the Cardinals more value - Siani or Nootbaar.