For all their mediocrity, the Cardinals are in line for plenty of post-season awards
Even a largely mediocre season is not without its accomplishments, and the St. Louis Cardinals received their first significant end-of-year laurels on Tuesday when Rawlings announced the finalists for the 2024 Gold Glove Awards.
Nolan Arenado was named a finalist at third base, Masyn Winn was named a finalist at shortstop, and Brendan Donovan was named a finalist among National League utility players.
Arenado won the NL award in each of his first 10 seasons in the majors, with that streak coming to an end in 2023. Donovan previously won the same award in 2022, his rookie year, and Winn’s nomination comes at the conclusion of his own rookie season.
Arenado is opposed by San Francisco’s Matt Chapman and Colorado’s Ryan McMahon. Winn was honored along with Dansby Swanson of the Chicago Cubs and Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. Donovan was named alongside Kiké Hernández of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Jared Triolo of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
A quarter of the final placement totals is determined based on the defensive index rankings published by the Society for American Baseball Research with the rest coming from voting done by MLB managers and coaches, though staff are not permitted to vote for players on their own teams.
A quick glance at the publicly available defensive index rankings, last updated on August 11, demonstrates the strong coalition; Winn was the top ranked shortstop in all of the majors, and Arenado finished with the second highest total in the big leagues for third basemen, albeit significantly behind McMahon.
Indeed, it would be somewhat of a surprise if Winn didn’t snag the award. If he does, he’ll be the first Cardinals rookie to win a Gold Glove since Donovan, and it would be the 100th award won by the team since the Gold Gloves were introduced in 1957. The Cardinals lead the majors in that category.
Not to be outdone by national recognition, the Cardinals on Monday also announced their minor league pitcher and player of the year, recognizing starter Quinn Mathews and catcher Jimmy Crooks.
Crooks, a fourth round draft pick from the University of Oklahoma in 2022, spent his season with Double-A Springfield. He batted .321 with a .908 OPS, slugging 11 homers in just 371 plate appearances. His strong season was rewarded with a placement among the team’s prospects in the Arizona Fall League, joining Leonardo Bernal as the two Cardinals backstops to receive that honor.
Mathews split his season among four different minor league levels, leading minor league baseball with 202 strikeouts in just 143 ⅓ innings. A fourth round pick in the 2023 draft, Mathews skyrocketed both through the minors and up prospect rankings throughout the season. He now ranks as the 77th best prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, and will certainly be invited to his first big league camp in the spring.
That invitation will not come with any undue limitations. Mathews is 24 and pitched four seasons at Stanford; however slowly the Cardinals have brought along other pitching prospects, he will have every opportunity to earn a spot on the big league roster in spring.
Indeed, the Cardinals were quietly preparing for that possibility this fall before they fell out of the race, willing to gamble that he might’ve been a thunderbolt inserted into the midst of the playoffs in the same way the Detroit Tigers attempted to utilize Jackson Jobe.
Crooks faces a somewhat more complicated path. Iván Herrera is out of minor league options starting next season, and the team’s deployment of Pedro Pagés makes it clear that they believe he has a strong future as, at a minimum, a big league backup. Those two are currently operating in support of Willson Contreras, though it’s unclear whether all three will still be in the organization by the start of camp.
Bernal, too, complicates matters from a playing time perspective, given that the Cardinals also moved glove-first backstop Wade Stauss as high as Triple-A as the season progressed. For a team that’s currently focused on stockpiling young talent, they find themselves with seemingly a more than sufficient store behind the plate.
Tuesday’s Gold Glove announcement is unlikely to be the last full-season awards recognition the Cardinals receive.
Ryan Helsley is the runaway favorite to be named NL Reliever of the Year – he was named Reliever of the Month on three occasions in 2024 – and will likely appear on Cy Young ballots. Winn has a chance to be mentioned on Rookie of the Year ballots, though is unlikely to break through the strong top three of Jackson Chourio, Jackson Merrill and Paul Skenes.
That recognition could come even as the Cardinals examine the trade market for Arenado and Helsley and seek clarity on how Donovan fits into their broader timeframe for competitive success.
A team which is advertising a reset will certainly appreciate acknowledgement of their current players even as some of them are on the brink of being shuffled along.