Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Cardinals Take Down The Marlins With Speed And Power

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

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The St. Louis Cardinals' offense comes to life on Thursday thanks to a nice combination of speed and power. You are Locked-on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals, I'm your host for Locked on Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, we're covering your team every day. You can follow me on X at JD Sports Radio in the podcast at L.O. underscore Cardinals. We're also available on YouTube if you haven't found us there yet. Like, subscribe, comment, and hit that notification button so you don't miss a single episode and know when those new ones drop, the shorts, everything that we put on YouTube.

You'll know that it's coming your way. Also, also available on TikTok, which is something that I'm learning how to do. We're on Instagram at Lockstone Cardinals as well. So find us. We're everywhere. This is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving the best fans of baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. So the Cardle's offense hasn't had a whole lot of success so far this spring, heading into Thursday. day's game against the Marlins. In fact, in their last two games, it was awful against the Blue Jays and the Yankees.

They got two runs on five hits. Total. Total. Like, nothing was really happening. Outside of Victor Scott against the Blue Jays, nothing was really happening. So naturally, fans are starting to get a little bit nervous, a little bit anxious, starting to scoge around in their chairs a little bit. Because last year, what was the problem with this team? Offence. Couldn't put any runs on the board. People would get on base. Couldn't knock a men. Offense. Huge issue. Failed to live up to expectations. And that's the main reason why the Cardinals were an 83 win team last year. And a lot of the same names are now back in 2025, which is freaking people out too, because we thought we were going to get this, you know, this whole changeover. And it didn't really happen. The biggest change is just Goldschman, Goldie, going to the New York Yankees instead.

So they tried to move Nolan Aronado. That didn't work. He's back as well. And the hope is that a lot of the guys that are on this team and the younger guys, to be more specific, that those certain people like the Jordan Walker's and the Nolan Gorman's and the large noob bars and Alec Berluson, these kind of guys, Mason went, they're going to take a step forward. Like they're going to get even better next year.

You know, I don't know why there's this negativity around the team that everybody's going to get worse for some reason. I don't know why you think that. Why do they have to all get worse? Why can't they all get better? Not everybody's going to improve, but why can a few of them take that next step and become better players this year? And the hope is that those improvements are going to boost this offense enough to where they will win more ball games in 2025. They also have brought in a new hitting coach in Bram Brown, who has been receiving rave reviews from many of the younger hitters that he's been spending time with, specifically Bolin Gorman and Jordan Walker.

They've had nothing but praise for him. Teams going to be relying on those guys this year, very heavily. So this spring, though, we haven't seen a lot of production from really anybody. There hasn't been a lot of guys that have done much. But things were different on Thursday, which was nice to see, which had to give a lot of fans, maybe a little bit of a side of relief that, you know, hey, the Cardinals can actually score some runs. The Cardle scored five runs in the first two winnings in Route 2 and 8 to 4 win. over the Miami Marlins on Thursday.

And it all started at the top of the order where Victor Scott the second got to start in center field. Then we know what kind of weapon that Victor's speed can be. The real question is whether or not he can actually get on base enough to use it. That was the problem last year. Makes the team out of camp, large in part due to injuries to Tommy Edmund and Lars Neufar and Dillon Carlson. They all got hurt last year in spring training.

So the Cardinals were like, crap, we don't have a center fielder, didn't know what they had in Michael Siani. So they kept Victor Scott on the roster and let him get a lot of starts early on in the season. And he was just overwhelmed at the plate. He just was. He bet it in 85 over his first 65 plate appearances with an OBP of 185. Really hard to steal bases when you can't get on first base.

And what's the joke they always say, hey, can't steal first base. You got to get on there first. So Thursday, first inning, he draws the lead off walk, which I know it's clear. cliche, but it's as good as a walk. It's as good or is as good as a single. A walk is fine. I'm okay with that. That doesn't bother me. He doesn't have to hit 340, but he needs a non-base percentage good enough that we can use his legs. And he was able to swipe second base, got his first steal of the spring when large new bar was up and that's where Victor can really make the biggest difference for this team whenever he's on here. I don't know if he's going to make the opening day

roster. I don't know. You know, there's, there's competition going on, you know. They're trying to figure out how to get all these bats into the lineup. How's Alex, Alex Burleson going to get in there? Lars Newpar has got to get in there. Brennan's got to get in there. So does go like, there's a lot of people they want to get into the lineup. But Victor Scott is a huge difference maker for this team and for this lineup because of what he could do on the base paths. And the team itself didn't do a lot of running last year. They finished 22nd in the league in total stolen bases. They only had 91. In 2023, granted minor leagues, A ball and double A, Victor Scott stole 94 bases by himself in 132 games. And then he added 18 more in 233 games in the

Arizona Falling. His legs are a weapon. And after stealing second base, he scores on a single by Lars Newpar, gives the Redbirds a one-and-nothing lead. And that's what he can do. He can turn a walk, getting on base on an air, a single. He can turn that in. to a double, sometimes even a triple. Wilson Contreras follows up the new bar single with a walk, which brought in Nolan Aronado, who got a lot of attention on Wednesday after making the four-hour trek to face the New York Yankees, a team that has been linked to Nato this offseason as a spot that seems like it would be a good fit for the Yankees, but hasn't happened, didn't happen. At this point, I'm hoping nothing happens and that he's just on the team and we can move forward.

I hope that's where we're at, but there's still rumors going around. But many questioned why Nolan would actually make such a trip. You know, what? You're a veteran. You don't have to do that. And some are wondering if, wait, maybe Aronado's trying to showcase himself. And maybe he's trying to put on a display for the Yankees and say, hey, look, you can have me and try to intrigue them to trade for him.

Something that Aronado denied. It was described that he had a grin. and a smile by Derek Gould saying, I didn't come here for that. Day three of spring training. That wouldn't be a good day to showcase myself. I'm not ready for that. And according to Gould at the Post Dispatch,

the Cardlster baseman came over Tuesday night. He just wanted to reconnect with two of his closest friends. Yankees infielder's DJ LaMahue, which played with him in Colorado. And then Paul Goldschmidt, who was with him in St. Louis and also a trainer that he knows very, very well. So he just wanted to hang out of these guys. And even if he did want to come over and show

case. It's not like he did anything. It's the Yankees anyway. So, uh, jokes on him. But that, that clearly is not what he was trying to do. He just was like, hey, let's, let's do this. And he wanted to get more at Batson. That was a big thing, obviously, as well as, uh, he didn't want to take a couple of days off, uh, back to back from what I've heard. So, uh, you know, good for him. He was willing to do it. Wanted to see his friends. And, uh, he was back in the lineup de aging on Thursday. First at bat, you've got Newt bar on second. You've got Wilson Contreras over at first. And he's a lot. And he was. And he was. He got a 3-0 sinker down and in, which is Arnado sweet spot.

We all know what he likes the ball on the inner half of the plate. Low ball hitter, really good at it, and didn't miss. He took advantage, launched it over the wall and left field. First home run of the spring, a three-run dinger, gave the Cardinals a 40-0 lead against starter Calquantrol. Then in the bottom of the second inning, Victor comes up again. He smacks a one-out single to right field. And after Newt flies out, Scott, once again, steals second base.

Again, this is a weapon that they can use, you know, creating some offense for a team that has a lot of station to station type of headers. And then was driven in by a two outbroken bat RBI single by Wilson Contreras to right field. The Cardinals retake that lead five to four. Aronado comes up again, rips a double to left field, 108 exit beelo off the bat before getting pinched ran for by a former first round pick, Chase Davis. Arnoto spoke after the game saying it feels good to be ready for a heater and pull the ball on. the air again. There has been a lot of work on that. And then that double was hit really hard. I worked very hard with the hitting coaches today in the batting cage. It was good. It was cool to see that. And it hit a ball hard. The hardest ball I hit in like a year or so probably.

I don't think I even hit the number last year at all. That was good. So clearly, Aronado pleased with what he did on Thursday. Contreras was in the thick of things again in the fifth inning. He leads off with a single to left and he gets pinched ran for by RJ. Excuse me, RJ Yeager, who was a race on a fielder's choice off the bat of Chase Davis, later scores on an RBI double by Pedro Pahas to make it six four. Cardinals tack on two more in the seven on a two-run single by shortstop Jeremy Revis. They end up winning eight to four over the Miami Marlins. The top of the order was exciting to watch today. Victor Scott the second, Lars Newfar, Wilson Contreras, and Nolan Aronado combined to go six for nine, five RBIs, five runs scored. Victor has his spring

average up to five 71. He's got a six. 667 OBP and a 1.953 OPS. And I know, I know. It's a small sample size. I get it. Seven at bats, but it's fun to say out loud. All right. That was the good stuff. That was the good stuff that happened in today's game as far as the offense went. Now, on to the bad, where two important cogs for this team this year did not have such good dates. We'll discuss those two players coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Thank you again for making Locked on Cardinals your first list. Every day, you can leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. Your feedback is always welcome and encouraged.

So as fun as it was to see the top of the order, do what they did today and break out a little bit. We did have a couple of guys that I want to point out. I'm not trying to bash on these guys, but we got to point it out. If we're going to point out good stuff, we got to point out bad stuff to Nolan Gorman, who started at third base, again, R. Renata was de-hing today. And starting pitcher Andre Palante had some rough days. So we're going to start with Gorman since we've been talking about offense already.

And, you know, you know the story with Gorman. Young slugger, lots of power that struggled with consistency and strikeouts. Gorman worked with new hitting coach Brant Brown this summer in Arizona. By the interviews that I've listened to and stuff, he seems like he's in a good spot mentally. We've talked about his journal that's helped him out. and seems to be trying to get back to what he was in 2023 when he was mashing the ball and trying to get his career turned around because, you know, he regressed last year.

He took a step back so much that he finished the year in Memphis instead of with the Cardinals. Thursday was not a good day. It was a tough day. Toughest day he's had this spring thus far. He struck out not once, not twice, but all three times that he stepped into the box on Thursday. His first abate, he goes down swinging on a cutter up in the zone.

His second abattie was caught looking on a cotter up in a way that just nicked the corner of the zone. This is the one that he challenged and lost. It was a strike. It was just a hell of a pitch, really. I don't know anybody was really going to hit that one. Then his third of batty strikes out swinging on a changeup low and out of the zone. So far this spring, Nolan Gorman is now O for nine with five strikeouts in one walk. Are you guys concerned at this point?

I'm guessing a lot of you will say, hell yeah, I'm freaking out. What are we doing? What's wrong with him? Why is he broken still? I would be a complete hypocrite if I started bashing him and talking trash about him. Nine of bats into spring training. And there's going to be plenty of fans in the comment section that are going to destroy Gorman. But you can't freak out about this stuff yet. just how you can't get overly excited about good things that are happening. You can't get overly worried about the bad stuff that's happening.

Preaching patience. I hate to have to bring that up, but that's what you need right now. I can't annihilate Nolan Gorman overnight at Bats. I'm just not going to do it yet. You want to do it in the comments section. Go right ahead. Go right ahead. You can crush them if you want to.

I'm not going there yet. What I will say is that I am a bit concerned with the lack of any success at all. Because I worry about Nolan Gorman mentally. That's what I worry about. I've said this before every day. As you know, I've been talking about Nolan Gorman's mental side of the game since last year, where it just looks like he gets really hard on himself and he gets down on himself. He's upset with himself.

It just, it's the feeling I get, I've never talked to Nolan Gorman. I've never met him. I've only seen interviews, but that's the vibe I get from him. I could be completely off. But body language is a big deal. And when you see Nolan Gorman, specifically last year, you can see a guy that is very, very frustrated and has usually been the best hitter on his team, no matter where he's played.

And to not be able to even put the ball in play, he's going to get upset at himself. And that's what I worry about is he, you know, he's been more. working on all this new stuff with Brant Brown and they're trying to turn a corner and get him into a right, you know, space mentally and physically. And to come out of the gate 0 for nine with 5Ks, it's got to be frustrating. It's got to be frustrating. But I hope that he's going to be able to stay upbeat about this and will continue to write in that journal and do the things that he needs to do to make himself feel better about it all because it usually when it comes to this, it just takes a couple of swings, a couple of swings, some

Good swings. Put the bat on the ball, hit the ball hard, even if they're outs, but it's a start making you feel a little bit better. You get your confidence back up, and then you become a hitter again. And hopefully that's going to happen for him sooner rather than later. Top prospect, J.J. Weatherholt, also over three in this game, he reached on an air, lined out the center and left field. His spring average drops to 222. But at least with JJ, he's hitting the ball hard, right? And that's what I'm hoping is going to happen for Gorman real soon. again, we are nine at bats into this thing. The panic button is still safely collecting cobwebs in the storage closet right behind this camera.

And we'll remain there until further notice. I'm not busting it out quite yet. On the mound, we had the spring debut of Andre Palante. And with the game not being on TV today, it's really difficult for me to, you know, see what was going wrong or what was up with Andre today. might have been just working on some things. I will say things that I've noticed just, you know, from the stats and stuff. The Vila was down a little bit, a tick from last year, but it's early in spring training. So some guys just aren't redding things up to that point yet where they're, you know, hitting max velocity where Palante is usually around 95.

There's more than 91, 92. We can all be to Coorobi coming out ripping 98 miles per hour in our first outing. So I'm not worried about that. there's no talk about any physical issues with Andre Palante yet. One of the thing, though, that you'll notice is that he was falling behind in counts a lot today. He was immediately behind an account in four of the five batters in the first inning in the first inning and three of five in the second inning. You know, it's really hard to win at bats when you're constantly behind in the count. It just makes your job that much more difficult.

Stat line on the day, one inning, four runs, five hits, two walks, no strikeouts, throws 42 pitches, 24 of those for strikes. You'd hoped for something better your first time out. But again, I'm not going to freak out yet. This is one game. It's the first game against live hitters in spring training, or at least an opposing hitter or somebody not wearing cardinal colors. So relax.

We're not going to lose our minds about that. Ali spoke about Palante after the game today, saying he's going to be on the ground. And there are times where that's going to happen where they all get bunched up and they find holes. There's nothing you can do about it. Other times they're right at people and don't have quick innings. But he did what he needed to do as far as being in the zone and getting the ball on the ground. So there you go.

Nobody is worried. Following the second inning, the bullpen. How about this? This is something that went really, really well today. They went into shutdown mode, allowed no runs, just three hits, one walk over the final eight innings. Matthew Libert-Tor. Tosses two strong innings striking out one, Joe Romero. goes a clean inning with a cake. Kyle Leahy, a clean inning with a punchy. John King,

a lot of lead off walking a hit, but got out of it with a couple of ground balls, which is what he does best. Veteran Nick Anderson looked like he was going to be in trouble for a moment there, a lot of double in a single, but he gets a double play, gets him out of trouble. And then Roderie Munoz, who is somebody I'm really keeping an eye on this spring. Roderie Munoz is somebody that, you know, live arm with the Marlins, Cardinals claim them and bring them over. And if they can teach him to throw strikes,

I mean, you might have something here. He was 96 consistently on the gun, got as high as 97, struck out two in the final inning to win it. Just somebody to keep an eye on. Is he guaranteed a spot? Hell no. But somebody to keep an eye on. So wrap up here.

Tough day for Palante. Great stuff from the bullpen. Eight innings, a lot of four hit, zero. run, struck out seven, walks just one in relief. Eric Fetty set to start on Friday against the Astros, Miles Michaelis on Saturday against the national Stephen Matt on Sunday, once again against the Miami Marlins. We're going to do some fan feedback that's coming up next year on Lockdown Cardinals. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious, then crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts. Each one ounce

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visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. Thank you again for making a locked on cartels. You first listen today for your second listen. You can find locked on MLB, our baseball guru Sully brings you a daily blend of humor and baseball, keeping you updated on all the teams. During spring training, you can find locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Speaking of spring training, what are our standing? at right now. I know there are some games in action at the moment. I know we saw, we had some Cubs fans, six and no. Cubs are still six and oh in the spring that we're talking some smack in the comments section because we're going to do some fan feedback here in a second. But yeah,

it was funny. It was only a couple years ago, but the Cardinals had the best record, right? And won the grapefruit league, best record in the grapefruit league. And then what happened to him? Yeah. So I'm not somebody who gets overly excited about. about when losses, for sure, in spring training. And I'm also somebody who doesn't get overly excited about stats from guys that you don't know a lot about. But there are some guys that are going to make you excited. And a lot of fans were really, really excited about what they saw from Quinn Matthews and his start on Tuesday against Toronto. A couple of names here, Cocoa, Coquilio, good one, by the way, says, yeah, I think he's going to be a stud.

Austin Dale says his stuff is fantastic. Taylor related to Jim Tomey maybe. Taylor Tomey says, I got to watch the first inning, and it was the first time I watched Matthews pitch before, and the dude has a live fastball. Jack Horton says pitching looks, not related to Ricky Horton, are you? Jack Horton says pitching looks decent for STL, but batting looks the same if these batterers won bigger salaries are going to have to hit a lot better. It's sad when minor league players come up and produce more than highly paid, positional players. Look, all I can say, if you're going to get worked up about spring training stuff,

is that I hope today's efforts on Thursday make you feel a little bit better about things. These guys are in their third, fourth games. We're talking about seven, eight at bats for some of these guys. So let's cut them a little bit of slack. But it's wild to see some of the numbers that some guys are putting up already. I mean, I'm not trying to take things away from guys like, you know, L.A. D.Crups with the Cincinnati Reds, just mashing right now. Three dingers already in the spring, hit 556. Corbyn Carol, two home runs hitting 429. But I also want to point out that some of the other people who are lighting it up, you've never heard of. Like 27-year-old outfielder Matt Gorski. How many of you guys got Matt Gorski on your fantasy league? Well, he's hitting 500 with three home runs and 10 RBI so far in the spring.

does that mean he's like a better hitter than show hey otani or mike trout or any of these other guys uh no no it's spring training you can't do that you just can't freak out and be like oh my gosh this guy's a god and then think everybody else sucks after a week of games um most people have never heard of that guy before i don't think i have gorski it sounds like a like a no i don't know football like a linebacker or something. We got Matt Gorski on the tackle. Just don't freak out. Don't freak out.

Good or bad. Don't get overly excited about certain things. And don't get overly angry about things. Bill, downtown on the ABS system this spring. As a former umpire, I did up to Division I, he says, you were taught to call the pitch where it crosses the front of the plate in a batter strike zone, not where the catcher catches it. So a curve could cross the corner,

but end up three inches to wherever. And you have to also consider the width of the ball. Only part of it has to cross over. Yeah, I get that. I don't know what the, I don't know what he's trying to say there, but I've always heard it described that way growing up. You know, it's not where the catcher catches it.

It's where it crosses the plate. Most of the people that I saw that had anything to say about the ABS stuff seem to like it. There are some people that, you know, are very much like Max Scherzer was. where, you know, they're a veteran and they're like, look, I like that it's a human thing. And it's, I don't need a computer telling me balls and strikes. And so far, like, I don't know if it's just the Cardinals games, because I haven't seen a lot of spring action for anybody else just yet. You know, I've tuned in here and there.

But it seems like, you know, a lot of the challenged calls on balls and strikes, a lot of them are going the way of the umpire, like where they've been right, where people are like, no, they obviously missed that call. And the computer's like, nah, you're an idiot. Up was right. So I think it's been good. And again, I'm not here to say they got to take the human element out of the game.

I'm not. It's the same way with calling safe and out on certain plays. Like when it's an egregious mistake or it's in the big part of the game. And that call, can make or break an inning. I want to make sure the call is right. Ball or strike, safer out. I just want it to be right.

Like, why wouldn't you want the correct call? So, again, human element is going to stay in the game. It'll never vanish. It's always going to be there. I just, you know, it's a couple of times a game where it gets called. It's quick. It's simple. Specifically, the ball strike stuff, not the safe and out.

Sometimes they take a little longer. But the safe and out, the balls of strike, it's been so quick. I've loved it. I think it's great. So if you disagree with me, so be it. But most of the people that I've gotten responses from have enjoyed it so far. All right. Thanks for making a lockdown cardinals. Your first listen every day if you haven't already. Give me a follow on X at L0 underscore Cardinals into JD Sports Radio. You can find me on TikTok at Locktown Cardinals. Plus like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. And I will see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.

Nice to have a winner today, wasn't it?