The St. Louis Cardinals are officially the hottest team in baseball as they pushed their league-leading winning streak to nine games and now sit just one game behind first place in the NL Central. The entire team has played a role in the surge up the standings but the true momentum came from a simple tweak of the lineup when the calendar switched to May.
Manager Oli Marmol’s move of Masyn Winn and Willson Contreras began the offensive outburst
Masyn Winn spent his entire rookie season and all of Spring Training hitting out of the lead-off spot, where he had some success but his hitting profile looked to fit better elsewhere in the lineup. Once the team left Florida for the regular season, Winn ended up as the everyday nine-hole hitter behind Victor Scott II as the Cardinals looked to put some speed at the bottom of the order to give the guys at the top a chance for more RBIs. When the shortstop hit the injured list with back spasms, the shortstop was hitting .222 with one extra-base hit with a concerning 18 strikeouts and five walks in his first 13 games.
After suffering a mild ankle sprain and receiving a couple of days off, Winn was inserted back into the order, this time in the second spot behind on-base machine Lars Nootbaar. Winn has staked claim to his new batting slot and his success has been a major factor in the Cardinals offense beginning to click. Since Winn’s first day in the two-hole, the youngster has slashed .293/.396/.610 with four doubles and three homers, including the game-winning home run in last night’s game against the Phillies. He has also shown increased plate discipline, drawing seven walks against 11 strikeouts in his first 48 plate appearances hitting second.
Winn’s move from the ninth to second spot meant that someone else had to drop down and that ended up being Willson Contreras, who had an ice cold start to the season hitting primarily in the second slot. As the two-hole hitter, the Cardinals first baseman was hitting an abysmal .184 with 25 strikeouts in 87 at-bats while only putting up a .521 OPS. Contreras hitting in this spot made sense going into the season as teams like to put their best hitter and run producer at the top of the order.
However, Contreras’ at-bats and pitch selection was not what the Cardinals needed from that important lineup spot and Winn’s move allowed the former catcher to slot lower in the lineup. He has spent time in the third, fourth, and fifth spots but the five-hole is where he has thrived. In 48 plate appearances, Contreras is slashing .385/.500/.769 with seven extra-base hits, including four homers, and 13 RBIs while only striking out nine times and drawing five walks.
Contreras continues to be the emotional leader of the team and when he is hot, it appears the whole team follows. Since drawing a walk that led to a strong bat-flip on April 22, the Cardinals are 14-5 and Contreras is on fire, hitting .354 with all of his homers and 14 of his 23 RBIs on the season.
With these two continuing to set the tone and Ivan Herrera returning from injury in a big way with his fifth homer of the year, this Cardinals offense looks like it could continue to lead the way for the team. In order to remain in contention, they will likely have to add some pieces to the bullpen and potentially the rotation, but the building blocks for a playoff run are there.
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