Two weeks into the season, the St. Louis Cardinals offense is getting far better results than last year. In the offseason, the team hired Brant Brown as the new hitting coach. His approach and offseason work with many of the batters seems to be paying off.
Cardinals Offense Humming
So far this season, the Cardinals are leading the League in hits per game at 10.25. That’s up from 8.41 from last season. The team is third in the league at runs per game at 6. They are only behind the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs.
St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said batters are sticking to a game plan and not veering from it. After the Cardinals 12-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels last week, a game where Ivan Herrera blasted three home runs, he credited his batter’s preparation for the offensive success early on.
“That’s why you’re seeing these tough at-bats one after another,” Marmol told reporters. “If they are going to get beat, they are going to get beat a certain way. I love that part of the offensive identity at the moment.”
The Cardinals have the second-highest team batting average and on-base percentage at .278 and .351, respectively. They are sixth in the League in slugging at .437. This is all with key batters Willson Contreras and Masyn Winn struggling so far this season.
Brown’s Offseason Work
After being hired in October, Brown hit the ground running, working with batters this offseason. He visited many of them and worked with them on their swings and approaches. Spent a lot of time over the phone or video calling them to talk to them. He particularly focused on some of the Cardinals’ young players who had struggled the previous year, like Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman.
“I love working with youth and strength and speed,” Brown told St. Louis TV Station KSDK at Spring Training.
Walker is perhaps the most notable turnaround early on. He has raised his slash line to .282/.378/.359 so far this year. That is up from .201/.253/.366. Nolan Gorman was showing improvement before landing on the IL in the first week. Young players like Herrera, Luken Baker and Brendan Donovan are all batting above a .300 average.
“A lot of credit to Brownie, he has been incredible this offseason,” Marmol said in January. “He brings energy for everybody, he has traveled around, he’s gone and seen players, he’s hitting with them, they’re adjusting, he’s gaining that trust early on. He’s super knowledgeable. He’s able to speak to different hitters based on what they need.”
Brown’s Approach to Batting
Brown wants his batters to relax when they are at the plate and to know their own strengths and weaknesses. He’s trying to teach the batters about who they are as a hitter based on analytics and films. Brown wants his players to understand how the other pitching staff is going to approach their at-bats.
“The biggest thing I like to apply is I want them to learn about themselves, because sometimes they are doing things that just their body doesn’t prefer,” Brown told KSDK. “For me, knowing your own weaknesses allows you to attack your enemies.”
In his work with Walker, Brown said he focused on simplifying Walker’s swing and having him relax. Those shifts seem to be paying dividends for the 22-year-old outfielder.
“By just applying a simple strategy of more relaxing and not being so tense prior to swinging, kind of took him back in time to more of his Double A feels,” Brown said.
A part of understanding their own strength and weaknesses has been the preparation. Marmol praised the team’s approach as a whole when it came to their at-bats after their 12-5 win over the Angels. He said the lineup has a certain camaraderie to it this season.
“The hitter meetings these guys have every day, there’s just a positive togetherness to it,” Marmol said. “They have each other’s back regardless of if it’s going well or not and every day is its own day. They’re approaching it that way, but the work prior to pitch number one has been really, really good.”
Main Photo Credits: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
