Rating how concerned we should be about slow starts from different Cardinals' bats

Nolan Gorman

Cardinals fans are still getting to know Nolan Gorman. He hasn't been in St. Louis for all that long yet, and I think there's a large portion of the fan base who just has not accepted how streaky of a hitter Gorman is.

Whenever Gorman goes through cold stretches, the tides turn against him quickly, and I feel like a lot of fans begin to freak out, call for him to be benched, or wonder if Gorman has what it takes to be a big bat long-term. And then what happens? Oh yeah, Gorman catches fire like no one else can.

Check out Gorman's wRC+ month-by-month during the 2023 season...

March/April - 135 wRC+
May - 155 wRC+
June - 22 wRC+
July - 152 wRC+
August - 80 wRC+
September/October - 145 wRC+

To recap, Gorman was 35% and 55% above league average in March/April and May, then dipped all the way down to 78% below league average in June, back up to 52% above league average in July, down to 20% below league average in August, and back up to 45% above league average in Sept/Oct.

Translation: Super streaky hitter.

Gorman is going to look like the best hitter in baseball some months, while other months he's going to look like Pete Kozma at the plate. He even has the ability to look like Taylor Motter offensively for an entire month if he's in that bad of a funk. But what do we know about Gorman? He finds a way to turn things on eventually.

I think there is zero reason to be concerned about Gorman at this point. Honestly, I'm super encouraged by the strides he's taken health-wise this offseason and how much better he looks defensively as well, and both of those things help Gorman remain a valuable player, even when his bat isn't on fire.

Concern level: 1