With emerging young core and aged rotation, Cardinals are confident this roster can win
One of Wednesday’s most essential workout drills for the St. Louis Cardinals took place at first in foul territory along the first base line and then from the field, down the steps and into the tunnel to the visiting clubhouse.
With Kyle Gibson first demonstrating and then judging, many Cardinal pitchers went through a strenuous round of modified bocce ball, flipping a baseball first toward a bag of Diamond Dry propped up against an L-screen and then toward a trash can in the tunnel. Ryan Fernandez was the event’s standout, making a memory that surely comes in just behind his first big league opening day in importance.
If nothing else, they’re not wound too tightly.
Set to open the season on Thursday here against the Dodgers, the standard season opening optimism remains in full force. Despite a spring riddled with challenging injuries and a starting lineup which will feature four players age 23 or younger – second baseman Nolan Gorman, shortstop Masyn Winn, center fielder Victor Scott II and right fielder Jordan Walker – you will scarcely be able to find a decision maker around the team who won’t in some form or fashion profess how much they like their group.
“I think people that ended up playing up here deserve it,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “They’ve earned that opportunity. I think when you really look at our overall roster, it’s just a pretty good balance in a sense of, we have a lot of guys with seasoned experience, but we also have some younger players that can tap into those guys and learn from them. I feel like overall, it’s a strong roster.”
“We’re excited about this series,” manager Oli Marmol added. “It’s a really good team across the way. They’re managed well, they’ve got good players, they play the game the right way. It’ll be a fun series to kick things off.”
Wednesday’s final roster housekeeping saw Scott added to the roster and José Fermín optioned to Memphis, with minor league first baseman Jared Young placed on outright waivers to create space for Scott on the 40-player roster.
Marmol had a conversation with Scott last week in which he expressed confidence in his work and told him that he’d done everything within his power to show he could contribute to the club. Then Scott was sent off to minor league camp with confidence in hand that the Cardinals would count on him at some point this summer.
Summer became spring as soon as Walker crashed through Dylan Carlson’s legs in Arizona, sending Carlson to the injured list with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder. If the Cardinals have any trepidation about needing to so quickly reverse themselves in the outfield, they are pointedly refusing to show it.
“They should be,” Marmol replied when it was posed to him that fans are eager to watch Scott’s high-octane style. “I’m excited about it. He does everything — it’s just electric. The way he runs the bases and creates chaos, plays really good defense. I think his bat will be just fine. He takes a competitive at bat, he’s gonna take his walks. At the end of the day, this is an exciting player, so there’s a reason for it.”
St. Louis centerfielders combined to steal a total of 19 bases in 2023. Scott, in the minors, stole 94, reaching 20 with a three-steal game for High-A Peoria on May 5.
Marmol said the staff noted how much Scott was able to affect the game while running the bases in spring, even with experienced major leaguers on the mound. Simply by virtue of requiring extra checks at the bases or encouraging pitchers to alter their delivery to the plate, he’s a factor requiring attention at all times.
It’s a flavor of baseball familiar to – and beloved by – Cardinals fans.
Scott and Winn represent the first rookies to start opening day for the Cardinals in center and at shortstop since 1954, when Wally Moon and Alex Grammas held down those spots. With Gorman and Walker, they represent a rising core of a team frantically seeking to erase its recent past and re-establish their standard of contention.
Miles Mikolas, pressed into service for an opening day start following an injury to Sonny Gray, sat in the stands two rows off the field as his teammates went through their paces, quietly taking in the scene. It will be his third opening day start since 2018, and he will be relied upon to pace a rebuilt rotation that’s already left scrambling to cover.
There are, to be sure, doubts. Zack Thompson is the only starting pitcher younger than 32 as of opening day, and while getting in their work and going through their paces, the starting group struggled to an ERA north of five in spring training games. Gibson, on Tuesday in his last appearance, struck out nine Chicago Cubs, ending spring on a positive note.
Do the negative notes bother Marmol or cause him to worry?
“I don’t care,” he said, bluntly. “Not even a little bit.”
They believe in their club. Now, they have a chance to show it.
This story was originally published March 28, 2024 at 6:30 AM.