Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Is The St. Louis Cardinal's Brendan Donovan the ULTIMATE Second Baseman?

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

Is Brendan Donovan the best second baseman in Major League Baseball? The St. Louis Cardinals' rising star is making waves with his impressive stats, leading all second basemen in batting average and on-base percentage, slugging and OPS. Cardinals fans are buzzing about his performance thus far in 2025! Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/ Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/ Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIO Follow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_Cardinals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Wonderful Pistachios Get snackin' and get crackin' with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! Supply House Join the TradeMaster program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com! Monarch Money Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuel Right now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) #ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals #stlouiscardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The St. Louis Cardinals win another series, but an interview with Mason win made me wonder. Is Brendan Donovan the best second baseman in all of Major League Baseball? We'll discuss it today on Lockdown Cardinals. 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 fans. I'm J.D. Haffern and I am your host for Lockdown Cardinals. part of the lockdown podcast network covering your team every day.

You can follow me on X at JD Sports Radio as well as the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals on X as well. We're on YouTube, like, subscribe and comment, hit that notification button so you don't miss anything. Also available on TikTok and Instagram at Locktown Cardinals. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. The St. Louis Cardinals took care of business on a wet and soggy night in Baltimore, defeating the Orioles 6 to 4 to win the series. They went back-to-back game, take two out of three.

We're going to delve into that game later on in the show. But after everything took place, I want to start with something that was said after the game. Okay. Jim McCad Hayes interviewing Mason Winn after the game, asked him about Brendan Donovan, who had returned from the day off previously. he was dealing with some hip tightness. Remember, precautionary. Nobody was worried about anything.

It was nothing major. Everybody settled down. Just took a day. It's okay. It's all right. It's a long season. And when Mason, when responded to the question from Jim, he said he's different. Every night, he's playing hard. hitting every single night, it feels like today was just another example of why he's the best second basement in the game right now. And it got me thinking like, is he? Is he? Because we think about Brennan Donovan, and we've had him for a few years now, right? And you see him and we know how important he is to the Cardinals, right? You know how good he is and what he means to this team in the clubhouse on the field

has been a solid player, right, who can play just about anywhere you need him to. Excellent defender has a gold glove to prove it. Certainly a good hitter. Great hitter? Certainly a good header coming into the season. But a guy that certainly works hard, does his job without a lot of fanfare, even though he does it very, very well, certainly doesn't get a lot of recognition nationally.

St. Louis, love him, right? In our area, in St. Louis, in our town, in our fan base, Brandon Donovan, we know how great he is. everybody else we feel like kind of missing the boat on things. But hearing Mason win say what he said, it got me thinking

in a position that I deem kind of thin as far as superstars go. Not a superstar second basement in Major League Baseball. Which bodes well for Donnie. Is Donnie the best second basement in baseball right now? So come with me.

Let's go on this journey and go look at the stats. Now defensively, we know he's been really good his whole career. That we don't really question whatsoever. But now that he settled back into second base more than left field, dude hasn't missed a beat. Just had his first error of the season the other day. And it wasn't an egregious mistake. He just had a bad angle on a throat a second on a possible double play ball.

It hit the runner and went away. That was his error. He didn't zing it wide into the outfield, trying to rush something. He didn't boot some routine grounder or drop a pop up or just something stupid. Tough angle, tried to make the play, hit the runner. They gave him an error. Defensive runs saved on fan graphs. Have him as a plus two, which is tied for third in the league. Nico Horner of the Cubs is running away with things at the moment at a plus eight. And then it's Andre Simez of the Blue Js of plus six. But third is pretty good. We'll take third in all of baseball.

out's above average he's at plus one, which is tied for fifth in baseball. Nico Horner is at the top again and plus five. Marcus Semyon, who we're going to see in this upcoming series against Texas this weekend, he's a plus four. Bryce and staff from Philly is plus three. Then you got four guys are plus two, then Donnie and a couple other dudes. Then if we flip the page to baseball savants to get some of that information, his fielding range is what you'd expect it to be because we know Donnie does a really good job,

but he's not the most fleet of foot. So covering a whole lot of ground is probably not his thing. And he's in the 39th percentile in fielding range. And arm strength, 24th percentile. So he's in the lower area there. Not great, not terrible, but not great. And the thing is to think that coming. coming into the season, what was Brennan Donovan known most for it?

Defense. Defense, right? And these stats are showing you that, yeah, he's pretty good, but he's not an elite level defender by any means. But even though the stats say what they say, the metrics say what they say, you and I have seen Brendan Donovan play on a daily basis in St. Louis, and we know how friggin' good this guy is at second base.

he gets the job done in left field. He's very good at second base. By far his best position. I've loved being able to see him play a little shortstop this year. That's been good too. Mason Wend can't play all the games, no matter how much you cry and want him to. He can't.

Most people can't in this day and age. He's going to need some days off. You know, you got Jose Barrero, who can play shortstop, obviously, and keep Donnie at second. But it's cool to see that he's got the ability to pull that off. We know we can play third. We know if you need him to, he can play probably anywhere in the outfield.

He plays first base if you need him to. The only thing I haven't seen him do is catch or pitch. But we know how good he is at second base. And you're seeing that. And we appreciate his ability to make the routine plays, the normal plays. Those are the ones that drive you nuts is when you make errors and you make mistakes on the simple things. And Donnie very rarely makes any mistakes on that stuff. When it's hitting his direction, pretty certain that he's going to get the play done.

So normal plays, routine plays day and day out. From time to time, you'll see him make a spectacular play. You'll make it, he'll make a diving play. And you're like, yes, or like in Wednesday night's game, the tag he made at second base. That was awesome, very acrobatic. The guy was still safe, but, you know, Donnie at me first, he was out. But he surprises you with some of his athletic ability. on certain plays, but if anything,

steady presence that you can rely on, which is great. Now, where Donnie is separating himself because he's not doing it as much defensively, even though he's just as good as we know he is, he's doing it with his bath this year. The offensive numbers to back up Mason-Win's statement are coming your way next on lockdown cardinals. I think you're going to like what we show you here.

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Feedback is always welcome and encouraged. I think we're going to have a lot of discussion about this, whether or not Brennan Donovan is the best second baseman and all of baseball right now, best all around second baseman. Let's take a look at the offensive side because the defensive side, I was surprised that he wasn't higher than where he was. I know recently he was up up there as far as second baseman defensive stats go, and he slid a little bit.

But let's take a look at this offensive side for Brendan Donovan. We're going to start with the weakest spot of his game when it comes to the offense and that's the power, although he hit a huge home run on Wednesday night for the team last night. That was just his fourth home run of the season. And I'm not, every dayers knows, I'm not a guy who is possessed with power. I don't need power all the time. I respect it, but I prefer hitters like Cardinals have. I like dudes who put the ball in play, make things happen in the field, put pressure on the defense, guys, you're hitting line drives, who were plugging the gaps with things, keeping the cell of runners going around and round and round, keep pressure on that pitcher. That's the way I like

my hitters to be. Yes, it's cool when they hit the home runs. And Donnie's was a big one on Wednesday night, not taking that away. But I'll take a guy who doesn't hit as many home runs than a guy who does and then strikes out all the time trying to hit home runs too often. There's a time to hit and there's a time to slug, right? That's the phrase this year that we have learned. And I believe in that wholeheartedly. Four home runs for Brendan Donovan puts him behind 15 other second baseman in the league. So you got Brandon Lau of the race who leads the league for second basement with 11. Our old friend Tommy Admin, he's tied for his second place with eight, had a lot right away,

right out of the gate and it slowed down a bit. It was hurt for a bit too. Along with the Diamondbacks, Kutel Martse and Seattle's Dillon Moore, and then it kind of trickles down from there. we're going to circle back to the power numbers in just a moment because there is something that's important about this. Let's go to hit. Bridget Donovan is far and away the leader here with a chip carry special 69 hits on the season. The next closest second basement is Nico Horner of the Cups, 59.

So that's a big one for Donnie. You know, he's already 10 hits on the second place guy. So good news for Donnie. Doubles. Donnie is at the top again with 18, second best. Nico Horner, 14. Triples, he's in dead last. He doesn't have any. We'll move on. How about RBI's? Leader in the clubhouse at second base is Brandon Lowe with 30 on the year. The Tigers, Glaibra Torres is second with 27. Tommy Edmunds got 26. And then there's

Brandon Donovan sitting there in fourth place with 24, along with Nico Horner, Jackson Holliday, who we just saw in this last series, who looked really, really good for Baltimore. And that's nice to see. I'm glad that, you know, the Cardinals took two or three. But it was cool to see Jackson Holiday and he looks good starting to step up and become that guy that they took number one overall uh then you got brys stopped from the Phillies again so certainly a respectable number at 24 rb i's on the year six off the pace of the top second basement walks donnie we know he's got a great eye he's in eighth place with 17 first place is torres from detroit 25 boston's christian Campbell is in second with 24. The brewer is Bryce Terrang and third with 23 and so on.

Horner seems to be the guy that's kind of popping up right there alongside Donovan and a lot of statistics. And he's got 14. Donnie's ahead of him with 17. So he's got three more, but he's got more. Stolen bases, not really a part of his game. Donnie only has three on the season. Leader is Bryce Terang with 14. Horner is tied for second with 11. All right, let's get to some juicy stuff where Brennan Donovan starts to separate batting average. Brendan Donovan is hitting a robust

335 now on the season after that big night on Wednesday. The next closest to him is that guy again, Nico Horner, but he is 46 points lower than him at 289. Think about that for a moment. 46 point difference between where Brendan Donovan is, batting average

among second baseman in all of baseball and then second place. 46 points. That is a monster number. And that 335 average that I'm talking about has some seventh overall in batting in all of baseball. No positions needed. Just in all hitters. Pretty special stuff going on with Donnie. On base percentage.

Number one, Brendan Donovan, 395, followed by Torres at 388. Terrang down to 3.42. Then there's Horner at 338. So a large lead over most of. Claiborres, 388, sniffing around Donnie's area. But everybody else, well below. Sluggy percentage. Number one, Brendan, Donovan, 4801 batting average, or not betting average, slugging percentage. Second place at 446 is Brandon Lough, 35 points back, mind you. After him, it's Jackson Holiday, Glambert Torres, and so forth. Nico Horner down at 9th at 368 for those keeping track at home. OPS, number one, Brendan, Donovan, 876.

That's a top 20 OPS in the entire league, folks, ahead of Pete Crow Armstrong, who's having this unbelievable year for the Chicago Cubs. Him and Sayah Suzuki are just crushing it. for that team. And then Niko Horner, obviously, having a good year, too. But that's ahead of PCA. That's ahead of Mani Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Bryce Harper, all these guys. He's ahead of them. Among second baseman, Torres is second at 818. That's 58 points back of Donnie. Niko Horner is fifth at 706. That's what, 170 points behind him? That's crazy. extra base hits among second baseman.

Brendan Donovan in the lead. He's got 22. Brandon Lau is second with 16. 11 of those are his home runs. He leads in total bases among second baseman with 99. Second Brandon Lau, 86. Remember, he's got more home run.

So he's getting more total bases because he's hitting a long ball. But Donnie's ahead of him by a bunch. 13 more. And if you go to his baseball survival survival. font page. It is absolutely dripping with red. YouTube guys, you can see it up on the screen right now. 87th percentile in batting run value. 91st percentile in base running value. Those are things that you don't. It's not just base hits and it's not just playing defense. What about the base running side of things? 91st percentile in base running value, even though he's not a fast guy. Of course,

the hitting numbers are outstanding 99th percentile an expected batting average. And this isn't amongst second baseman. This is in the league. 99th an expected batting average. 97th percentile in width percentage. 95th percentile in K percentage. There's a difference between swinging and a missing and then striking out. And he's good at both of not doing it.

Is he the best all around second basement in Major League Baseball? I just gave you a lot of evidence that says that he might be. He might be right now, the best second in basement and all around in all baseball. The numbers seem to think that if he's not, he's certainly in the conversation, right? The two guys that seem to be in the discussion with him just going through the stats and whose names are popping up right next to things that Donnie is doing is Nico Horner and Brandon Loud. Niko Horner is having a hell of a year. And again, I'm not taking anything away from these guys. They're very, very good.

But Horner so far this year has provided little to no power whatsoever. He doesn't have a home run yet, so none. He does offer you the better defense. He offers you more speed. Horner has an OPS plus of 103 so far this year. And he's got a war of 2.1. Very respectable, very, very good. 2.1, very good.

Brandon Lau has the power. hour and the RBI numbers. But he also strikes out of time. Fifty three so far this season, fourth most among all second baseman. And he's a minus three defensive runs saved, but a plus two an ounce above average. His OPS plus is at 112. He's got a war of one. Then you get to Brennan Donovan. OPS plus 144, got a war of 2.3. The OPS plus, 144. Got a war of 2.3. The OPS plus, obviously much better than both of them by a long shot. The war, just a little bit ahead of Nico Horner, point two ahead. They all do things well.

But Brennan Donovan, at least to me, in looking at the numbers, because I was fully ready to prove myself wrong and be like, eh, man, I probably not. Look at the evidence. It seems like the best all-round guy at this month. moment in Major League Baseball. And I know we've got Katel Marte. We've got Ozzy Albies. These are guys

who are normally sitting at or near the top of the list here. But they haven't had the starts to the season that Brennan Donovan has had. Marte, offensively, he's doing very well. He's hitting 283, eight home runs, only 13 RBIs, which is really weird, considering

the team that they got in Arizona. I mean, they score runs. But eight home runs, 13 RBIs. He's only knocked in five other runners. the other eight or himself. 1.2 war OPS plus 164. Defensive runs saved, zero. Outts above average, minus one.

So quite a difference there. Ozzy Albies hitting 240, five home runs, 19 RBI. His war is a 0.5. OPS plus at 83. Defensive runs saved minus two. Outs above average, minus one. Not even in the conversation.

So is Brennan Donovan? the best second baseman in major league baseball right now what do you guys think let me know your thoughts in the comments section down below um maybe we can do some fan feedback about this in tomorrow's episode uh but i'm curious what your thoughts on it and and i want you to look at it not just as a cardinals fan because obviously you are going to be a little bit biased we we love them we think donnie's great but i want you to look at it and take the numbers i gave you and think about it for a second Who would you rather have? If it's not Brennan Donovan, who would you rather have?

And there's really not going to be, like I wouldn't say if you took Nico Horner. I'm not going to argue with you. There's obviously some really good things that he's doing this year. But think about it. Discuss it amongst yourselves. And then leave some comments down in the comment section down below on YouTube. Hit me up on X. And we can talk about it in tomorrow's episode.

I want to get to Wednesday's game. We're going to get to that next coming up here. on Locked on Cardinals. Thanks again for making Lockedong Cardinals. Your first listen today for your second list and check out the all new Locked on MLB Game Night every game every night. It's all season long getting local analysis on a national scale. You can find MLB game night on Locked on MLB or on YouTube or wherever you listen to your

podcasts. Again, gross night in Baltimore. Most of us didn't think this team was even going to play. I didn't hit rained all day, all day. John Denton reported to the Cardinals had even extended their hotel rooms and got new key cards made for the staff and players, got them issued, expected to be rained out in play on Thursday. Credit to the grounds crew at Camden Yards, man.

They got it set up, ready to play, had a delay at the beginning. Got underway, what, like 25 minutes later than they were supposed to start, and we had baseball. Early on, it was like, oh, crap, maybe we should have just rained out, because Miles Michaelis was not sharp. And I warned you about this. Eventually, Miles Michaels is going to have a game where he gets knocked around a little bit. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was in Boston that night.

But it wasn't great. Michaelis, not sharp. Everything was up in the zone. Just couldn't get the ball down. That's dangerous for almost every pitcher in baseball. Orioles took full advantage. They jumped out to that 3-0 lead in the second inning. But as has been customary for the Cardinals so far this year,

they just, they come right back. They don't quit. They don't get down and just go, well, we're probably toast. And early on, they were having a real tough time with Kate Povich, who was the starter for the Orioles, just striking out over and over, never seen this guy before, had a tough time. But when they came back around to see him again, that's when they started hitting.

And they ended up jumping out and getting two runs, two out, two runs single by Jordan Walker, who is starting to look more and more comfortable. at the plate for all the haters out there. I had a really good about later in this game where he laid off some pitches that were out of the zone, didn't chase, got ahead in the count, and then took a couple of strikes. They were at his knees over the plate, but at his knees. They were low, not something that he's normally going to do a whole lot with.

And he was patient and took his time. It was like, no, I'm ahead of the count. I'm controlling things right now. End up getting a walk out of it. I thought that was beautifully done. And I want to see more of that. Just because it's in the zone doesn't mean you have to swing at it. You got three strikes to work with.

So use them. So scores 4 to 2 by the time we get to the fifth inning. And that's when the Cardinals top of the order gets busy again. They were huge in this game. Newt doubles. It moves to third on a wild pitch. Mason win doubles to bring them in. And then it's Brendan Donovan.

And we have a lift-off as he unloads on one and smacks the sinker over the wall in right field for a two-run shot. And just like that, boom, Cardinals have the lead. Come from behind again. They'll tack on another one in the seventh inning on an RBI double by Yvonne Herrera. They win this one six to four. Top of the order, Newt, win, Donnie, a combined nine for 15. All six runs scored, three RBIs just blasted the Orioles in this one. Yvonne Herrera won for three with that RBI devil, but also took two walks. So, you know, pitchers are starting to adjust to what Ivan Herrera is good and not as good at. And instead of chasing things and, you know, letting the pitchers dictate what he can do,

Yvonne Herrera is just going to take the walks. And that's what sluggers do, man. That's what they do. You don't put it in his spot and you're going to try to get him to chase outside the zone. I'll just take the walk. I'll go to first. Used to see it all the time. The one that remember, you know, as far as Carlos goes, Mark McGuire,

scared if they put anything over the plate, he's going to knock it over the wall. And they would pitch it all over the place. And Mark was more than happy to take the trot down to first base. Yvonne Herrera starting to show that patience. And I'm not saying he's Mark McGuire power wise. I'm just saying he's willing to take it. He's not going to open up the zone and start swinging it crap all over the place just because he wants to hit the ball so bad.

So I love that. Jordan Walker, big night, or the big knock, and then had that walk as well that I mentioned. Victor Scott out for four, three strikeouts. Not a great matchup against the lefty Povich, but his defense is so good. You don't really want to take him out of the lineup, especially on a rainy, crappy night where you want your most steady defenders still in the field. So it's probably good for him to get a day off here on Thursday and refresh, get back at it this weekend in Texas. Wilson Gutierrez was over five, but he did smoke a couple of those pitches. They just happened to be out.

So not really sweating anything with Willie right there. But the story was the top of the order. New two for five, five for nine in his last two games in Baltimore. Mason win four for five, six for his last ten. And of course, Brennan Donovan, three hit night, big home run, eight for his last 17. You know, with those three setting the tone at the top of the order and Herrera entrenched right behind them with Willie and Nato doing what they do. Walker's starting to heat up a little bit. He's seven for his last 19 with six RBIs.

you know, the lineup is just not an easy one to maneuver through for any team. Shout out to the bullpen in this one. Five scoreless sittings in relief, Cal Leahy, John King, Phil Meanton, Jojo Romero, Ryan Halsley. Day off, Ali could unleash everybody at Baltimore to save that lead, and that's exactly what he did. And it was beautiful, extremely impressive job by King, Mayton, and Romero specifically. Helsley, again, always has to have a guy on to make things interesting, but he nails down his 12th save, which is fifth in baseball, fourth in the national league. He's got eight saves in May, which is tops in the league.

The width at 1.50 is scary. That is not what you want when you're trying to close down leads, especially when it's probably one or two runs at the end of a game. But, you know, he's getting the job done. I don't mean it to seem like I'm bitching and moaning about Ryan Helsley. I'm just, you know, discussing things with you. you guys. I'm not saying he's a bad closer. I'm just like, there's always somebody on. It's crazy. But as long as the end result is what we want, then I guess we can't complain too much.

Rangers this week in a wrap up the month of May over the last 30 days. Only the Phillies have a better record than the Cardinals who were 21 and 9 over that period, 18 and 7 in the month of May. They are still three back of the Cubs and the division who just had their hands full with the Colorado Rockies. Yeah, at Wrigley, some very tight games, but they still want them. But at 32 and 24, the Cardinals are currently in the third wild card spot. Obviously, it's very early to start talking about that kind of stuff. But it's just worth noting to say, hey, the Cardinals are right here with everybody else. They're playing good ball. They really are.

So if you've been one of those guys, it's like, I don't really feel like watching them. You might want to change your mind because it's been very entertaining. They'll be in Texas to face the Rangers this weekend. We'll preview that series and a whole lot more coming up on our next episode. Thanks for making Lockedown Cardinals, your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on acts at L.O underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio. We're on TikTok and Instagram at Locktong Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube, making the push for 13,000 subscribers can use your help.

If you're not a subscriber, people who watch this, apparently it's like only 4% of people are actually subscribed to watch the episode. So I got to do is click that little button. I would appreciate that. It helps our channel and our love for the St. Louis Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals. Ugly lounge shirt.

Glad to have it back on.