Ranking the 10 most important St. Louis Cardinals players for the 2025 season

4 - Masyn Winn (SS)

After a cup of coffee in St. Louis at the end of the 2023 season, Masyn Winn entered last year as the Cardinals’ starting shortstop, and he did not disappoint. He had one of the best rookie seasons by a Cardinal in recent memory, posting a 4.9 rWAR, joining Albert Pujols and Stan Musial as the only Cardinals age 22 or younger to do so in a season. 

Known for his defensive prowess as a prospect, Winn has shown 80-grade arm talent and a growing feel for the shortstop position that has already landed him Fielding Bible’s top defensive shortstop for 2024 and led him to be named a finalist for the Gold Glove Award as well. Winn figures to only continue to grow as a defender, so the Cardinals may have a multi-time Gold Glover on their hands.

At the plate, Winn surprised even the Cardinals with his comfort level facing big-league pitching already. Winn slashed .267/.314/.416 with 15 home runs and 85 runs scored, good for a 103 wRC+. Considering people thought his bat would take a while to grow, this was a very encouraging rookie campaign.

Winn is on pace to be the Cardinals’ next franchise player, but he will have to build upon his strong rookie campaign to do so. There’s a strong argument for him to be higher on this list, but Winn has fewer questions to answer compared to other young Cardinals. The floor seems to be very high for the soon-to-be 23-year-old shortstop, and the ceiling is also sky-high.

3 - Nolan Gorman (2B)

After a promising 2023 season, Nolan Gorman looked poised to become a much-needed tentpole bat in the middle of the Cardinals' order. However, 2024 was quite a fall from grace for the once-streaky hitter. After a few short stretches where he looked like his old self, Gorman fell victim to the strikeout bug, as he became nearly unplayable. He struck out nearly 38% of the time and was on pace to break a Major League record had he not been demoted to Triple-A to finish the year.

Many of the strengths Gorman had in 2023 became weaknesses last season, and he simply looked lost at the plate. After mashing fastballs in 2023 to the tune of a +11 run value, .263 average, and .496 SLG, pitchers were able to overmatch Gorman with their heaters in 2024, seeing those numbers drop to a terrible -12 run value, .162 average, and .333 SLG. 

Swing-and-miss will always be a part of Gorman’s game, but he needs to find a way to hit the ball hard again when he does make contact. What makes Gorman so special when he is feeling things at the plate is his ability to do damage with the pitches he does hit, boasting a 16.5% barrel rate and 48.5% hard-hit percentage in 2023, both in the 86th percentile or higher. 

In 2023, Gorman managed to post a 135 wRC+ or higher in four of the six months of baseball he played in that season and was only able to hit that mark once in 2024. For the Cardinals’ offense to take a major step forward in 2025, they need Gorman to get back to his mashing ways, becoming someone they can depend on for 30+ home runs and can carry their offense for stretches.