ST. LOUIS – One week through MLB spring training games, there’s only one team that has yet to hit a home run. That team? The St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals have now played seven spring games and have not slugged a home run in any of them. For comparison, the Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies lead all spring teams with 11 home runs each in the same number of games played.
Spring games aren’t always the best indicator of how things will unfold come regular season. Many players only see around two or three at-bats per game every other day until the spring schedule digs deeper into March. That said, the Cardinals’ lack of results in the power department is a bit alarming.
Four players slugged at least 20 home runs for the Cardinals last year with Nolan Gorman’s 27 round trippers leading the pack. Another five had at least 10 home runs. At the minor league level, Cardinals prospects Luken Baker, Chandler Redmond, and Moises Gomez all had at least 30 last season.
It’s hard to imagine this stretch without a home run will last for long. After all, baseball is a game of adjustments.
For instance, Jordan Walker, one of St. Louis’ top sluggers, has been tinkering with a modified batting stance with a larger emphasis on hard contact over launch angle, according to St. Louis Post Dispatch Cardinals writer Lynn Worthy. The changes aren’t super obvious visually, but Walker hopes they will help him overcome a learning curve from last year become more of a complete hitter rather than purely for power.
The path to finding power might look different for each player. Outfielder Lars Nootbaar spent much of his offseason working with Nolan Arenado, and both are big proponents of using launch angle to manufacture power.
Beyond the lack of home runs, there’s still more to be desired of the offense. The Cardinals have only scored eight runs in five games since a hitting-happy split squad day to open the spring schedule. Through seven games, their .205 batting average with runners in scoring position is the third worst among all MLB teams.
The Cardinals open up the 2024 season on March 28 with a road matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
