Cardinals: Five players under the most pressure entering the 2023 season

These five Cardinals are under the most pressure entering 2023

The St. Louis Cardinals are just days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training, and soon all eyes are squarely on the reigning National League Central Champions as they look to take a step forward in 2023

With each season comes new sets of expectations. If a player flashed signs of growth and development, more will be expected of them this coming season. If A player failed to meet expectations last season, the pressure cranks up a bit as they look to bounce back. When you look at this Cardinals roster, you could argue they are one of the teams with the most players facing critical junctions of their career.

Some of that is by design. The club has an abundance of young talent that needs to prove what they are this season - inherently creating pressure internally for those players. Pressure is not always a bad thing, especially when its created by the presence of other options who could make a name for themselves as well.

And yet, there are some players who need to prove themselves due to failing to meet expectations as of late. The Cardinals are confident that between all of the options on their roster and approaching the major leagues, they can find the right group of guys to contend this year. This year, you must perform to be a key player for St. Louis, meaning competition will begin in Februray and last throughout the entire season.

There are five players, that more than anyone else, are under the most pressure entering the 2023 season. Let's look at those five players and why this is such a pivotal season for them.

Nolan Gorman

After finding himself in trade negotiations this off-season, Nolan Gorman has quickly fallen down the pecking order internally behind guys like Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar. Before the 2022 season, this would have been unthinkable. But after breakouts from Donovan and Nootbaar, paired with a more quiet start to his big league career from Gorman, the second baseman is facing a huge year in his career already.

Don't read this as me saying Gorman is on the verge of being a bust. He is just 22 years old and has just 283 major league at-bats, and has shown plenty of potential, even in that brief MLB stint, as a guy who can mash for years to come. Gorman had 30 HRs last year in 132 games across Triple-A and the majors and added another 18 doubles on top of that. His .721 OPS during his rookie year was 16th among qualified rookies, and that was even after an extremely cold stretch to end his regular season stint in St. Louis.

Gorman deserves every opportunity to show why he was one of the top prospects in baseball, but there will be plenty of competition that could make that difficult for him. Whoever ends up being the club's fourth outfielder will fight for DH appearances with Gorman and Juan Yepez. Second base is his clearest path to playing time on the field, but Donovan will draw a lot of starts there as well. Gorman will likely need to do more than just rebound for him to receive consistent playing time.

Cutting down on strikeouts, proving he has value against left-handed pitching, showing consistent power, and becoming an average defensive second baseman would go a long way toward him becoming a mainstay in the Cardinals lineup for years to come. If he does not take his game to the next level in 2023, it does not mean he will not in the new few seasons, but it could mean he is used in a deal to acquire a starting pitcher when one becomes available.

Tyler O'Neill

Just two years away from free agency, Tyler O'Neill needs to bounce back from a frustrating 2023 season in order to get that big contract he will ideally be looking for, Not only is O'Neill in danger of losing that contract, but he also could end up falling out of the Cardinals' starting outfield if things don't go well for him.

I have to imagine that the Cardinals are cautiously optimistic that they will be getting a much better O'Neill in 2023 than they received last season. The Canadian's injuries kept him off the field constantly, destroying any chance of him finding a rhythm once again at the plate. The 27-year-old is a hard-working, high-character individual and deserves an opportunity to turn things around this year.

If his new off-season training routine has the impact the club was hoping for, O'Neill will be able to stay on the field in 2023 and will have every opportunity to prove his worth at the plate. When he is at the plate, he needs to get back to what made him so good in 2021: being aggressive.

If O'Neill falters, he will quickly find himself losing playing time to the club's other outfield options, and may find himself in a trade by season's end.

Dylan Carlson

If the Cardinals did not have the depth they have right now in their outfield, I don't think Dylan Carlson would make this list. But after struggling last season and the emergence of other young options, Carlson needs to turn things around early on in the year.

He was a top 20 prospect in baseball before the 2021 season and finished 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting after slashing .266/.343/.437 with 18 HR and 65 RBI. Can we stop and think about that for a moment? He was 15% above league average at age 22 with the ability to play very good defense in center field. After struggling with a wrist injury in 2022, his OPS dropped down to .695 and many fans have flipped their opinions on him.

Carlson has already shown two elite tools to this point in his career. First, his defense has the potential to be Gold Glove level, which is extremely valuable in today's game. He boasts both an ability to track down balls in the outfield at a high level, and use his hose of an arm to nail runners on the basepaths.

On top of that, Carlson has an .869 OPS in 293 PA against left handed pitching, making him an absolute weapon in the lineup or off the bench versus southpaws. The club needs to see if Carlson can turn things around against right handed pitching, because if he can, he puts his name in the conversation as one of the best young center fielders in today's game.

Carlson is just 24, and even with some hiccups this year, I don't see the Cardinals giving up on him unless it nets them an ace. Unless O'Neill bounces back in a big way, it seems like St. Louis is setting up their outfield of the future to be Carlson, Lars Nootbaar, and Jordan Walker, and for good reason. Still, Carlson does face a ton of pressure, as if he does not show signs of progression, he will lose playing time, and questions will have to be asked about his long-term future with the club due to their other options.

Lars Nootbaar

Las Nootbaar is on this list for a different reason than the other four. Nootbaar has gone from a no-name prospect and fun fourth outfielder to one of the rising stars in today's game in just seven months. This has mostly happened due to a hot stretch during the second half of the 2022 season and some incredible advanced metrics related to his batted ball data and plate discipline. Nootbaar has all of the tools to be a star, but will he?

It's one thing to perform at a high level with no expectations, it's a whole other thing to have an organization, fan base, and now national media watching you intently. Nootbaar's hype has gotten a bit out of control at times, but that's not to say the new expectations are not warranted. He's not a top outfielder in the game right now, but he sure could be if he continues trendy upwards.

After posting a 139 OPS+ during the second half last year, the organization seems to view Nootbaar as their best outfielder at the moment. I wrote a piece recently diving deep into the reasons why the rest of the baseball world is catching on to Nootbaar, and I expect the 25-year-old to build upon that this coming season.

Although Nootbaar seems to have the leg up in the outfield competition, like O'Neill and Carlson, Nootbaar will have to continue to perform to maintain that spot. There is a very real scenario where Walker, O'Neill, and Carlson end up as the Cardinals' starting outfield, and Alec Burleson may even push to be a part of that group as well. Nootbaar seems like a guy built for big expectations. With how much he has been hyped by fans and media this off-season though, the pressure is certainly cooking for Nootbaar.