Analyzing the St. Louis Cardinals Week 1

Record: 2-4

Total run differential: -3  (29-32)

Average runs scored: 4.8

Average runs surrendered: 5.3

The -3 run differential equates to -0.5 runs per game.  To say that they are going to need to find a way to get on the right side of this run differential moving forward is beyond obvious.

Individual Performances

C – Willson Contreras: .333/.333/.389   Season OPS+ 101.  Season DRS +1.  Season Caught Stealing 50%

Not a bad week for Contreras.

1B – Paul Goldschmidt: .450/.593/.650  1 HR.  Season OPS+ 247  Season DRS -1

The reigning NL MVP is off to an MVP start.  He’s typically a slow starter, but perhaps not this year.

2B – Brendan Donovan: .273/.320/.545  2HR.  Season OPS+ 135  Season DRS -2

He’s definitely producing at the plate.  Though, I would prefer a better OBP from a leadoff batter.  His defensive metrics weren’t so good.  However, if he keeps hitting 35% above league average, nobody will care.

3B – Nolan Arenado: .308/.333/.346 Season OPS+ 90  Season DRS +2

The power hasn’t shown up yet, but we all know that it will.  The defense is elite as always with him.

SS – Tommy Edman: .261/.292/.261  Season OPS 56  Season DRS -1

This was a tough week for Edman.  We expect that he will improve in the weeks to come.  He’ll have to.

LF – Alec Burleson: .313/.313/.625 1 HR  Season OPS+ 152  Season DRS -1

An injury to Lars Nootbaar opened up a spot for Alec Burleson.  He responded with a really nice week.

CF – Tyler O’Neill: .278/.316/.444 1 HR  Season OPS+ 109  Season DRS 0

Tyler had an okay week on paper.  However, the talk of town is his rift with manager Oliver Marmol.  I hope Tyler and Oli had an opportunity during the off day to talk and work things out.

RF – Jordan Walker: .333/.360/.542  1 HR  Season OPS+ 147  Season DRS -3

Jordan Walker has had a great week at the plate.  His defense was very suspect though.  I have to wonder if LF would be a better fit for him.  If you believe in WAR, he is a -0.1.

DH – Nolan Gorman: .438/.571/.875  2 HR  Season OPS+ 296

Nolan Gorman had a monsterous week.  He really looks to me like a breakout superstar.

C – Andrew Knizner: .143/.143/.143  Season OPS+ -20  Season DRS 0  Season Caught Stealing  0% (0 for 1)

Just a backup catcher doing backup catcher things.

IF – Tayler Motter:  .500/.500/1.000  Season OPS+ 304  Season DRS 0

He’s only got into one game but played well.

OF – Dylan Carlson:  .385/.385/.462  Season OPS+ 135  Season DRS +1

He got into 5 games and had 13 plate appearances.  He did play well when called upon.

DH – Juan Yepez: .250/.250/.250  Season OPS+ 40

He went 1 for 4 in the one game that he played.

LF – Lars Nootbaar: .250/.500/.250  Season OPS+ 120  Season DRS 0

Noot only played in one game and unfortunately injured his thumb.  He’s currently on the 10 day IL.

SP – Miles Mikolas: 2 GS, 9.1 IP, 9.64 ERA, 2.143 WHIP, 12 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 2.66 FIP

Anything that could go wrong, went wrong for Miles Mikolas.  The metrics suggest hard luck for Miles.  His Fielding independent ERA is 2.66.  OUCH!  For this reason, I’m not overly concerned about him.

SP – Jack Flaherty: 1 GS, 5 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 4 K, 7 BB, 1 HBP, 6.40 FIP

Jack had an extremely odd first start where he really struggled with his command.

SP – Jordan Montgomery: 1 GS, 5 IP, 5.40 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 3 K, 1 BB, 0 HBP, 2.60 FIP

Jordan was good enough to get a win in his one start.  The FIP suggests a little bit of hard luck.  Thankfully, that didn’t hurt him enough to cost him and the team the game.

SP – Jake Woodford: 1 GS, 4.1 IP, 12.46 ERA, 2.308 WHIP, 3 K, 3 BB, 12.89 FIP

This was just a terrible start by every possible measure.

SP – Steven Matz: 1 GS, 5.1 IP, 6.75 ERA, 2.063 WHIP, 7 K, 1 BB, 6.01 FIP

Kind of a rough but not necessarily disastrous start for Steven Matz.

RP – Drew Verhagen: 3 G, 3.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.600 WHIP, 5 K, 0 BB, 0.20 FIP

As odd as it feels even typing this, Drew Verhagen was dominant in week 1.  Let’s hope this continues.

RP – Chris Stratton:  2 G, 3.2 IP, 2.45 ERA, 0.818 WHIP, 3 K, 0 BB, 1.56 FIP

Stratton was also very good in week one.

RP – Packy Naughton:  3 G, 4.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.462 WHIP, 4 K, 0 BB, 1.35 FIP

The lefty is off to a great start this season.

RP – Jordan Hicks:  3 G, 3.1 IP, 13.50 ERA, 3.300 WHIP, 3 K, 5 BB, 5.90 FIP

Jordan Hicks struggled with command issues this week.  He had two wild pitches, one of which injured Willson Contreras.  Needless to say, he must find some control in a huge hurry.  The big arm is there.

RP – Giovanny Gallegos: 1 G, 1.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 2 K, 0 BB, -0.80 FIP

a minor injury limited Gio to just one appearance this week.  Hopefully, all is well now.  When healthy, he’s a good one.

RP – Zack Thompson: 2 G, 3.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.600 WHIP, 5K, 1 BB, 1.10 FIP

My pick for a breakout season this year is Zack Thompson.  So far, he’s off to a really good start.

CP – Ryan Helsley: 1 SV, 2 G, 2.2 IP, 6.75 ERA, 1.875 WHIP, 2 K, 1 BB, 2.83 FIP

It only takes one rough outing to screw up a relief pitcher’s week.  This is the case here.  We know this guy has the goods.  I believe he’ll be fine.

You can draw your own conclusions here.  6 games is far too early to push the panic button.  The offense looks pretty strong to start.  The defense is not as good as I would expect so far.  The starting rotation clearly had a bad week.  The bullpen was mostly dominant the first week.

Schedule for week 2:  The Cardinal go on the road for three game sets in Milwaukee and Colorado.  Milwaukee is off to a hot start.  The Rockies are almost always tough in their home ballpark.

We’ll see what the next week brings!