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Willson Contreras has joined some rare company in his first season with the Cardinals
In a relationship that started with some controversy and drama, Contreras put up some offensive numbers that puts him on a small list of Cardinal catchers.
When franchise legend Yadier Molina retired after last season, the Cardinals sought a catcher who would help fill that missing void, and Contreras has definitely filled that.
The Cardinals knew that they were getting a solid-hitting catcher with an above-average throwing arm behind the plate, and someone who could hit behind Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. After he seemed to gain confidence in the coaching staff to be the everyday catcher, he bounced back from a slow start at the plate and was one of the hottest hitters in baseball in the second half.
In 46 games after the All-Star break, he had a .309/.402/.557 slash line with 10 home runs and 31 RBI, including his last home run that provided the only offense in Adam Wainwright's 200th win. That last home run was his 20th of the season, something he accomplished four times when he was with the Cubs, and he hit that achievement this season while nursing an injury so that he could catch Wainwright's last start.
So Contreras hitting the 20-home run plateau this year puts him in rare company in Cardinals history. At a position that is widely known for defense, not a lot of catchers have been known as prolific power hitters. Here are all the other Cardinal catchers that had a 20+ home runs season before Willson Contreras did so this season.
Yadier Molina- 22 home runs in 2012 and 20 home runs in 2018
The guy who recommended the Cardinals to sign Contreras after he retired, had a couple of highly productive seasons in the power department.
As I mentioned earlier that catcher is widely known as a defensive position, Molina might be the best defensive catcher of all time. In 19 seasons with St. Louis, he won 9 gold gloves, including 8 in a row from 2008-2015, and his ability to throw out runners attempting to steal basically shut down any strategy by the opposing teams to try to steal off him.
There was a three-season span from 2011-2013 where Molina was one of the best-hitting catchers in the league along with his stellar defense, including 2012 where he hit 22 home runs and had, at the time, career highs in batting average (.315), on-base ( .373), SLG (.501), RBI ( 76), and extra-base hits ( 50). That season he finished 4th in the MVP voting.
2018 came as a surprise to most as he hit 20 home runs in his age-35 season. He also did this in playing only 123 games, his lowest in 5 seasons, he drove in 74 runs, and he won his final gold glove that year as well.
Ted Simmons- five 20+ home runs with the Cardinals in 1974, and 1977-1980
The Cardinal Hall of Famer and Baseball Hall of Famer, "Simba" is still arguably the best power-hitting catcher in Cardinal history. Simmons took over the reins as Cardinals' starting catcher in 1971 at just 21 years of age and was an All-Star for the first time a year later.
Fast forwarding to 1974, he struck 20 home runs for the first time in his career and had 103 RBI after falling just short of 100 RBI the 2 seasons prior, and '74 would be his 3rd straight All-Star appearance. In his prime, he was one of the best in the league at driving in runs, especially for a catcher as his last 4 seasons in St.Louis (1977-1980) saw him have an average slash line of .298/.383/.506 with 90 total home runs, 360 runs batted in, 3 All-Star appearances, and a Silver Slugger.
After Simmons was traded to the Brewers, he hit 23 home runs for the Brewers in 1982, the year the Brewers lost to the Cardinals in the World Series.
Joe Torre- 21 home runs in 1970
The Cardinals acquired Torre from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Orlando Cepeda, a swap of two future hall of famers, and Torre did not disappoint in St.Louis.
Torre was a five-time All-Star in Atlanta and a Gold Glove winner, but some of his best years came with the Cardinals. He hit .289 with 18 home runs and 101 RBI in his first season in 1969, then in 1970 he surpassed the 20-homer plateau with 21, something he did with the Braves four years in a row from 1964-1967. He also hit a career-high at the time .325 with 100 RBI.
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1971 was Torres's best season in St.Louis, and arguably the best of his career, where he led the league in hitting (.363), hits (230), RBI (137), and total bases (352). Those numbers were enough for Torre to win the NL MVP. Torre hit 24 home runs that year, but he did so as a third baseman because the aforementioned Ted Simmons took over catching duties in '71. But the year before Torre was the first catcher in Cardinals history to hit 20+ home runs in a single season.