Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Nolan Gorman Cut Back On This To Lost 10 Pounds This Offseason

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Nolan Gorman is one of the top power hitting 2nd basemen in all of baseball but can he stay on the field enough to become the best?- Diet Changes- Riley O'Brien- Mitch Keller- Kodai SengaFollow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOSTLCardinals?sid=YouTubeLocked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnMLBFollow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIOFollow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_CardinalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BackblazeReceive a fully-featured no risk free trial at Backblaze.com/lockedonmlb. Go there, play with it, start protecting yourself from potential bad times!eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What adjustments off the field has Nolan Gorman made to help him stay on the field even more in 2024? Plus, which new pitcher is reportedly impressing so far at camp? This is Locked on 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'm a national radio sports anchor, born and raised in the Lou and a lifetime Cardinals fan. I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals, part of the Locktown Podcast Network, your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter, X at JD Sports Radio. You can follow the podcast at L.O underscore Cardinals.

I want to think those of you who make Locktown Cardinals, your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube if you haven't seen us there yet. I encourage you to come on by. If you're one of those that listens to the show, the audio version only, got some good stuff going on on the YouTube version as well so you might want to come by check it out like subscribe comment make sure you're interacting with us hit the notification button so you know when new episodes are posted because this is a show serving cardinal nation and giving the best fans in baseball all of the info about the birds on

the bat today's episode being brought to you by game time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase all right first and foremost if you are watching on youtube got the new hat in check it out check it out new batting practice hat i love it i love it i think it's fantastic i highly encourage you to get one for yourself uh also want to apologize for this coming out so late tonight had work and then had an event that i had to go to so now we're just getting back and uh we're ready to talk some cardinals baseball um the first spring games are coming up on saturday which i'm sure everyone is excited about right and so far fingers crossed so far we haven't had much injury stuff

to talk about. All right. I'm Satan in a whisper because I don't want, I don't want to ruin it. Okay. But that's good news because last year, so many injuries. It felt like the whole team went down with debilitating injuries throughout the year. Now, some of those injuries, the fluke ones, right? Like you had the Dylan Carlson ankle. Nobody thought it was going to be this bad. Lars New Park, had a bunch of them last year. Remember the abdominal injuries? when something lower area got hurt, Alec Berlinson's broken thumb. How about that one?

You don't worry about those so much because ish happens, right? Like, you can't predict those kind of injuries, that stuff. It just happens. It is the nature of the game. It's part of it all. Others, you can be more concerned about. Other ones are wear and tear injuries over the grind of a season. We know it's very difficult to stay healthy through an entire Major League Baseball

season, 162 games. Not a lot of people. Like, what Cal Ripkin Jr. did is bonkers. Like, how the hell did he play in that many games that long consecutively? It's crazy. And we know that being out there on the field every single day, it's even more difficult as you get older. For example, Nolan Aronado dealt with the dead arm and back issues last year. He's going to be 33. You hope this isn't a trend. And so far, spring training feels great. Talked about his arm, how it feels great. Arm is strong. He's ready to go.

We talked about that in our episode earlier this week, which focused on Nato. So if you didn't get to see it or hear it, make sure you go check that out. But what about the other Nolan, the other injuries that that no one was dealing with, talking about Nolan Gorman, the one that plagued Nolan last year, the back injury, right? That was the big problem last year. Now, that is one that had a lot of us concerned. I was one of them, brought it up multiple times throughout the season, that, you know, you got a 23-year-old power-hitting prospect like Nolan Gorman.

And on four separate occasions, the guy had to have a back issue. Okay. And I'm going to throw up a picture on the YouTube screen real quick, courtesy of Fox Sports, but you can see it, where it goes through the list of injuries that he had last year in May, back, twice in July, back issues. Then again in August. Plus, he had the foot injury in August, and then the hamstring in September. That's a lot of pain for a 23-year-old in just his second season in the major leagues.

And when you have the PTSD from all of the issues that former Cardinal Tyler O'Neill went through, you can see why fans and I are a wee bit concerned about Nolan Gorman's future. The guy is clearly put together very, very well. Takes great care of himself, right? 6-1, 210 pounds is a rock. Got those broad shoulders, thick upper body, thick legs. You can see where all this power comes from. So you know, he's putting the time in the gym.

Like he's doing that. He is at the gym. lifting clearly and lifting heavy. But then again, so does Tyler O'Neill. And yet the injuries kept coming. We know he's got the talent. He's got that elite power that everybody looks for. His 162 game average after two seasons in the big leagues would have him hitting 232, but 32 home runs, 86 RBIs, 454 slugging, 771 OPS, OPS plus so far in his career 112. Now, if we compare that to the rest of the second baseman in Major League Baseball last year, he would have been second in dingers, third in RBIs, sixth in slugging, seventh in OPS,

and if we're talking just the National League, he's top five in all of those categories. In the 2021 season, Tyler O'Neill goes off, right? Just went off. MVP votes. That's how good he was. Gold glove winner. seeming to be a superstar on the rise. And then the injuries started to occur. We heard how Tyler was trying to work on becoming more flexible.

Those were the words that were used and doing things to try and avoid the injuries. Some people think that that play against the Braves where he got thrown at home play was because in his mind, he wasn't trying to push things so they didn't pull hammy or do any other damage to himself. And it didn't work. It didn't work. He missed another massive chunk of the season last year with the back issues. And the Cardinals have now moved on.

They're like, look, we're moving on. Sent him to the Boston Red So how do we stop that from happening to Nolan Gorman? That is the question that everybody's trying to answer. It's not just to us as fans trying to figure this out. Coaching staff, front office, the training staff, Nolan Gorman himself. everybody's trying to figure out what they can do so this doesn't become a problem throughout his entire career. So what has he got to do to remain on the field? Well, he's made some alterations to the diet. The answer might surprise you a bit of what he has decided to give up on and not eat as much of.

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Leave comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter anytime you want because your feedback is always welcome and encourage. Whether it's good or bad, let us know what you're thinking. So what is the move for Nolan Gorman this offseason? As far as diet goes, to help him stay healthy, to be on the field a whole lot more than he was in 2022 or 2023. So what's he going to do? Eat more chicken, try to get more protein in him, maybe more vegetables. Got to get those greens, right?

More protein, more vitamins, all these things make a lot of sense, right? That is not the answer. That is not the answer we got. Apparently the key was popcorn. Popcorn. That's right. John Denton at MLB.com did a story on the Cardinal Slugging Second Baseman, and popcorn was apparently part of the problem. Denton writes in his article, alleviating some of that back inflammation necessitated drastic measures this offseason. Even if it meant Gorman not only cutting back on his favorite Netflix,

Benging snack, but also changing brands completely. Gone was the same brand of popcorn that Gorman had loved munching on for years in his downtime, and it was replaced with a much healthier version that is made with coconut oil. The result he said is that he's anywhere from 8 to 10 pounds lighter and his off troublesome back is feeling better than it has in years. Gorman quoted in this article saying, I think everything I did helped. and if it didn't, I probably wasn't doing the right stuff. With snacks, you find a replacement for something you love that's similar, but better for you. It also, it's also about portion control and not eating too much because the replacement still isn't good for you.

I really like popcorn, and there are some brands that are made with better oil. I've never eaten terrible, but I'm just trying to eat cleaner, more organic foods, and knowing what my body needs. One thing I did learn from this article, other than the fact that Gorman was apparently eating, I'm going to assume movie theater style popcorn this whole time. But I also learned that Gorman has been dealing with these back problems since high school. So this isn't something that just, you know, just kind of popped up out of nowhere, landed in the Cardinals lab and were like, oh my gosh, what is this? No, apparently he's been dealing with it since high school.

And according to Denton was made worse by a wayward deadlifting session back in 2020. So the COVID year. There is a certain fear, as we've heard with Tyler O'Neill over the years, about being too big as a baseball player, too big, too bulky. Certain positions, I guess you can get by with it for space. Catcher, obviously, most of the time you like your catcher, a little more thick, but you don't like a huge bulky pitcher, right? Middle infielder is normally you don't think about big bulky guys. You think about the bulky guys on the quarters, right? First and third. In the outfield, sometimes you can get away with it. But not up the middle, not at second, not at shortstop. And when I think of second baseman,

I don't think of hulking guys who smash 40 home runs a year. You know, I think of the guys that I watched growing up, guys like Craig Bezio, Ryan Samberg, Roberto Alamar, Chase Utley, Jose Altuve still in the league, Dustin Padroia, not a big guy, right? Now, Nolan Gorman was a third baseman coming up in the system, right? He's become a second baseman because you got that other Nolan over there at third base, Nolan Aronado, and he's pretty darn good. So Nolan Gorman is still built like a third baseman. He's built thick like that third baseman normally is.

He's actually a lot bigger than Nolan Arnano. Like, Nolan Aronado is not a huge guy, like thick wise, not like Gorman. not like Gorman at least. But that's just the way it's going to be. That's who he is. That's how he's built. So he's not going to just magically become smaller and leaner and wipe away all that muscle mass that he's built up over the years.

That's just not going to happen. We've got to accept that. But it's also, you know, you can look at it as a bad thing, but you can also look at it. That is what separates him and makes his power stand out even that much more. Remember the years when like Jeff Kent? not the most agile guy out there, no foot speed to speak of, but he was a big thumper for the Giants at second base.

It was having Barry Bonds. It's a position that doesn't always yield the best offensive power numbers, but it's a strength for the Cardinals because now you have a Nolan Gorman there. And he can play third when he needs to. He can be the DH from the left side. Maybe he learns to play some first base at some point. I brought that up last year or this offseason one of the two where I'm like, how come we're not teaching Nolan Garman to play a little first base,

you know, with his build and the way he is? Maybe that makes sense for it. The future core of the Cardinals lineup-wise, it's quite bright when you think about a large new part. And you think about Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman and Mason Wend and Brennan Donovan. And then you've got the vets involved, you know, the Aeronados, Contreras, Paul Goldschmidt, Tommy Edmund. I put him in the vets now.

And then you got guys coming up like Yvonne Herrera, Victor Scott the 2nd, Thomas Cajee, Chase Davis, first round pick, Cesar Prieto. Lucan Baker is still here. Dude almost won a triple crown in AAA last year. He's still around. So there's still some thump in this organization. And Gorman and Walker, they're your crown jewels, right? They're the crown jewels of what the future of the St. Louis Cardinals is going to be.

You've got to get them healthy. You got to keep them healthy. And according to Denton, people are noticing the changes that Nolan Gorman has made this offseason not only physically, but also mentally. Manager Ali Marmal apparently impressed with the maturity level that he's seen out of Nolan Gorman. He told Denton in the article, he's dedicated, he wants to do this a long time, had a really good offseason physically and mentally,

just getting prep for what's ahead. He looks great. He's moving around and he's swinging it well. Overall, he's put himself in a really good position to have success. You're looking at a really scary bat if he stays on the field, which we're optimistic about him being able to do. And as a guy that works out, I'm not a big lifter like Nolan Gorman.

I'm not, nobody's ever going to go like, whoa, that dude's beefy. But I'm a guy who works out regularly, okay, at least four times a week. I'm also a snacker. So I get what Nolan Gorman goes through because when you're trying to build muscle mat, you're hungry all the time. You're constantly trying to feed your body. And you don't want to always eat vegetables and chicken and whatever,

the protein powders and all of that stuff that is necessary to build the big physique and stuff. You don't always want that. So you try to find that one snack that makes you feel okay, you know? And popcorn apparently was the problem. So it's good to hear that he has. has found a different brand because there's a bazillion of them to choose from. Just walk down the grocery store.

Go to Deerbergs, go to Schnux and walk down the popcorn snack aisle. Millions of them. Millions of them available. And I'm sure he likes the ones that are dripping with butter and salt. But if that's causing an issue and you can give that up and take a different one instead and be able to play 150 games instead of 115. I'm sure as hell making that change. And it appears Nolan Gorman is as well.

I mean, 10 pounds from switching popcorn? Man, I don't eat a lot of popcorn. I eat a lot of Pop-Tarts though. That's my weakness. What snack do you guys have trouble saying no to? Let me know about those in the comments section down below. And let me know your thoughts on Nolan Gorman in 2024 and beyond. Likes, dislikes.

Do you think he's going to be the future cleanup hitter of the Cardinals? Is it going to be him and Walker? as the two main cogs, or do you think the Cardinals should move on? You don't trust the back issues. Let me know. Up next, which Cardinals reliever is impressing at camp, and the Pirates, ink one of their best young players to an extension. This is Locked on Cardinals.

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with the local experts of lockdown, plus our national shows covering every league. Got a locked-on sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel. According to MLB.com's John Denton, one of the guys that is impressing at, camp right now. A guy by the name of Riley O'Brien, relief pitcher. Remember him, got him from the Mariners? Specifically, the sweeper that he's throwing at camp right now apparently is boggling people's minds. According to Denton, O'Brien sweeper had a jaw dropping 21 inches of horizontal break in his latest appearance. The average sweeper, according to MLB.com, has around 15 inches of horizontal movement. So 15, 21, six extra inches, and he throws it at 84 miles per hour, which may now

sound like a big deal. You're like, cool, whatever, 84 miles an hour. When you throw it slower, the break is even greater, right? And then you couple the 84 mile an hour sweeper that he's throwing there with the 98 miles per hour that he's throwing on his fastball. And you can see why the Cardinals wanted him from Seattle. And you can see why people are excited about him. Like I was watching, what was it? There was something on Twitter. Somebody had Edwin Diaz. They had Edwin Diaz where, you know, one of those things where it shows at the same time, his fastball, and then the break on his breaking ball, which is virtually the same thing, the slider sweeper. And they were showing the difference and how difficult it is,

it is to hit Edwin Diaz, the closer for the Mites. that is what you're seeing out of Riley O'Brien so far in spring. And this is a guy that's bouncing. He's 29. This is not some kid. A guy that's bounced around from Tampa Bay, then the Reds, then the Mariners. But 51 appearances last year at AAA, 2.290RA, 86Ks, 15 saves across 55 innings of work. Let me repeat that.

86 strikeouts and 55 innings. 14.1 strikeouts per night. that'll play, that'll play. And the Cardinals, here's the, here's the thing. The Cardinals have, obviously, your closer, Ryan Helsley, Giovanni Gallegos, Keena Middleton, Andrew Kittredge, Andre Palante, Nick Anderson, you got from Boston, Ryan Fernandez, you got from Boston, and Riley O'Brien from Seattle, all of them from the right side. I can't all make the team.

Halsley, Gallegos, Middleton, Ketridge, they're in. They're not going anywhere, right? So this is going to be one, because there's not a ton of competition at camp for the Cardinals, really. You know, position player, you know where everybody's going for the most part. But the bullpen, who's that sixth guy going to be for the rotation? Those are the competitions. The bullpen is the biggest competition at spring training this year. number one by far.

So it's going to be exciting to watch all of these guys when games get started this weekend and they get out there on the mound and see what they can do. I'm excited. You should be excited too because I love what the Cardinals have done with their bullpen. They got a couple of veterans to go along with their other veterans. But then they brought in a bunch of young arms who could either sink or swim. We don't know. We don't know.

Will they rise to the occasion? It'll be great? We hope so. Will they fall off the face of the earth? and not be worth the crap, that could happen too. But they got so many of them where if somebody does not turn out to be the way they want them to be, they're not hamstrung by it. They're not like, oh, man, what do we do now?

They've got other guys who can step up. So I'm excited about it. Can't wait to see these guys on the mound this weekend. Some news from the division, the Pittsburgh Pirates, have locked up their ace per sources. The team and their 27-year-old All-Star Mitch Keller are in agreement for a five-year-old 77 million. million dollar deal that will keep him under contract through the 2028 season. Deal is pending a physical has not yet been announced by the team, but once finalized, it will be the largest contract for a pitcher and franchise history, as well as the highest

average annual value for a contract in team history. He's going to be their starter on opening day for the second consecutive year. There was footage of him getting the the announcement, I guess you could say, the news in the office today. They gave him a bottle of champagne and said, hey, you're going to be a starter again. And I know it's a division opponent, and we all want good things for the Cardinals, bad for everybody else. I understand that. But I love that the Pirates have done this.

For years, they've traded away superstar talent, specifically from the pitching side, and receive very little in return. Garrett Cole, Tyler Glassnow, Jameson, just off the top of my head. Those are the guys that I think of. They're keeping color. They're keeping Brian Reynolds. And even though that's trouble for the Cardinals, it's good for the game. It's good for the game. Kodi Sanga news.

The Mets presumed ace this season has been shut down. This big news, by the way. Posterior capsule strain and his throwing shoulder. Shut down. We'll likely start the season on the injured list, and there is no exact timeline for his return. That's huge news for the Mets who have all this money and just lost their ace, which means that guys like Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery,

still out there right now. could be getting a call up for the Mets and maybe the Mets panic. Maybe they do meet the demands of them and their agent Scott Boris, who has got four of the biggest ones out there still. Matt Chapman, Cody Bellinger, Snell, Montgomery, still don't have homes yet. But when you lose a Kodi-Senga, maybe the Mets fold now. And they're like, all right, all right, we'll give you whatever you want. What do you want? What do you want? Seven years, 170, boom, let's go. Maybe that happens now. So maybe it all works out for these guys. We'll see. We'll see what happens.

Thanks for making Lockton Cardinals. You first listen to every day. If you haven't already, please give us a follow on Twitter at L.O. underscore Cardinals and a J.D. Sports Radio, like and subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and love for the Cardinals. Girl, make sure in the comments section,

you tell me how cool my hat looks because I love it. You're the best fans in baseball for a reason, and I will see you next time on Locktown Cardinals. Have a good one.