People are overstating just how streaky Nolan Gorman is for the Cardinals offensively

What's not to love about Nolan Gorman? The St. Louis Cardinals' second baseman is one of the best young sluggers in all of baseball. He mashes baseballs from the left side of the plate while getting on base at a solid clip. He's young and seemingly unstoppable when he's on one of his hot streaks...

...but those cold streaks can be so bad. But the more I've looked at it, the more I think we have begun to overstate just how streaky of a hitter Gorman is.

Check out Gorman's month-by-month breakdown since the beginning of the 2023 season.

The numbers are jarring, but not in the negative way that I think people can portray him as. Out of the nine months, Gorman has posted a 152 wRC+ or higher in four of them. Four! Two of those months were a 135 wRC+ and 145 wRC+. I'm not sure we talk about Gorman as a guy who's been one of the best hitters in baseball for two-thirds of the time he's played since the start of 2023.

Sure, three of those months were a lot worse, but only June 2023 was truly terrible. That was a major low, but the 80 wRC+ in August 2023 and 78 wRC+ in March/April of this season are liveable lows, especially with the kind of production he puts up the rest of the time. Sign me up for that every day.

The at-bats are not equal month to month, but if you break the months down that way, then 64% of the time he's great, 28% he's below-average, and 8% of the time he's just plain bad.

Do we forget that this sport is streaky by nature? There are very few hitters in this sport who are able to put up consistent numbers all year long, and even fewer who can do that at an elite level. Is Gorman streakier than average? Probably. But I really don't think it's the Achilles heel that we make it out to be.

I know, we are only halfway done with June and have three months of the season left to go. But with how things are trending, this season will have a lot more of "great Gorman" than the version of Gorman that makes you wonder where all of his talent went.

We need to start having a real conversation about the state of this young core the Cardinals are building. Gorman is one of the most feared hitters in baseball for large chunks of the season. Masyn Winn has completely broken out this year and is one of the front-runners for National League Rookie of the Year. Alec Burleson looks like the hitter the Cardinals thought he could be. I haven't even said anything about Jordan Walker, Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, or Ivan Herrera.

There are so many players the Cardinals can be excited about, but Gorman's bat is the one you can really dream about. He's well on his way to hitting 30+ home runs this year at second base, and it's possible we see him surpass the 40-home run mark.

He's elite offensively more often than not and has continued to be one of the most clutch hitters on this roster. What's not to love about Gorman? Honestly, it's hard to complain about what he's brought to the table in his young career so far.