{"id":72641,"date":"2024-05-08T09:16:19","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T13:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=72641"},"modified":"2024-05-08T09:16:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T13:16:19","slug":"cardinals-most-consistent-hitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/08\/cardinals-most-consistent-hitter\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinals To Be Without Most Consistent Hitter After Bat Breaks His Arm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The St. Louis Cardinals will be without Catcher Willson Contreras for an extended period of time after an injury Tuesday night. As soon as the Met&#8217;s J.D. Martinez&#8217;s swing made contact with Contreras&#8217; arm in the second inning of Tuesday&#8217;s matchup, it was clear the injury was serious. X-rays immediately revealed a fracture in Contreras&#8217; left forearm. Contreras told reporters after the game he will have surgery on his arm and it will take six to eight weeks to recover.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is the most pain I&#8217;ve been through for sure,&#8221; Contreras said. &#8220;I knew right away it was a bad situation, then when I got to set down in the dirt it was numb, I knew it wasn&#8217;t right.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Willson Contreras will leave this game after taking a J.D. Martinez swing to his left arm. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mJfiqOBf4t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/mJfiqOBf4t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BallySportsMW\/status\/1787999936006525000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Contreras Was The Cardinals Most Consistent Hitter<\/h3>\n<p>On top of being the Cardinals <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/10\/marmol-optimistic-power-struggles\/\" target=\"_self\">leading<\/a> home-run hitter, Contreras was leading the team in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. He was also second on the team in batting average, only behind third-baseman Nolan Arenado. In the first inning of the 7-5 loss to the Mets Tuesday, Contreras doubled and came around to score, extending his team lead in both of those stat categories as well.<\/p>\n<p>Contreras&#8217; .398 OBP was 13th-best in the league and his .551 SLG was 12th-best. He was also in the top-15 percentile of the league for his barrels per swing percentage according to Baseball Savant. Contreras was one of the few bright spots for a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/23\/cardinals-struggling-clutch-hits\/\" target=\"_self\">struggling<\/a> Cardinals Offense.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s really difficult because I was going through a really good stretch,&#8221; Contreras said Tuesday night. &#8220;I&#8217;ve just got to get back stronger and be here for the guys, I think that is the best thing I can do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Contreras on his injury and recovery time: &#8220;This is most pain I&#8217;ve been through, for sure. I knew right away it was a bad situation. &#8230; Unfortunately, it&#8217;s going to take 6 to 8 weeks to recover. &#8230; I&#8217;m not going to blame anybody. I just have to get back stronger.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/STLCards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#STLCards<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CywcdrWNTE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/CywcdrWNTE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BallySportsMW\/status\/1788049950141509947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Next Man Up<\/h3>\n<p>Rookie Catcher Ivan Herrera will now become the Cardinals every-day catcher. Herrera has been having a solid season when he has filled in for Contreras or while starting at DH. Through 69 at-bats in 2024, Herrera has three home runs, 11 RBI, and a .232\/.276\/.377 slash line.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s grown a ton, he&#8217;s matured a ton, and he&#8217;ll have an opportunity to catch quite a bit moving forward,&#8221; said Cardinals Manager Olliver Marmol after the game.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow rookie catcher Pedro Pages had just been optioned to Triple-A on Sunday to make room for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/30\/dylan-carlson-rehab-assignment-cardinals\/\" target=\"_self\">Dylan Carlson<\/a>. Marmol said after Tuesday&#8217;s game Pages is heading back to St. Louis to serve as the backup catcher.<\/p>\n<h3>Pitch Framing Leading To More Catcher&#8217;s Interference<\/h3>\n<p>Contreras had entered this year working on a modified stance to try and improve his pitch framing metrics. Going down on one knee to try and get lower pitches to look like strikes. He wasn&#8217;t among the leaders in pitch framing. It had been a point of emphasis in his game. Both Contreras and Marmol faced questions about the risk of modifying his stance and potentially being closer to batters after the injury.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Even during the offseason, it was a topic of discussion,&#8221; Marmol said. &#8220;Because there was an increase in [catcher&#8217;s interference incidents]. The more catchers are evaluated on framing the closer they are getting to the hitter in order to get that low pitch. So, it&#8217;s definitely a topic of conversation, the risk is high. We just experienced it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Marmol on if he&#8217;s been able to talk to Contreras yet: &#8220;Yeah, that&#8217;s why I was a little later coming in. He&#8217;s OK. He reiterated that we have enough in that clubhouse to continue to take our shots, and he&#8217;s going to be diligent in his work in order to get back so, keep going.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jLULJQOPyT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/jLULJQOPyT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BallySportsMW\/status\/1788046141155573867?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Contreras acknowledged his stance was different, but he said he wouldn&#8217;t blame anybody for the injury. He defended his approach to reporters chalking the injury up to the dangers of being a catcher.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s always a risk being a catcher, it could be something different, it could be one of my knees, getting hit in the head for a concussion,&#8221; Contreras said. &#8220;But the risk is always going to be there, I&#8217;m not blaming any part of my game because this happened tonight. When I get back I want to try to be the same guy behind the plate and keep doing my best.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: <em>Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The St. Louis Cardinals will be without Catcher Willson Contreras for an extended period of time after an injury Tuesday night. As soon as the Met&#8217;s J.D. Martinez&#8217;s swing made contact with Contreras&#8217; arm in the second inning of Tuesday&#8217;s matchup, it was clear the injury was serious. X-rays immediately revealed a fracture in Contreras&#8217; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5111,"featured_media":72667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1071],"tags":[1086,3731,3338,6415,2183,1560,6420,1478],"class_list":["post-72641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardinals","category-mlb","tag-cardinals","tag-catchers","tag-dylan-carlson","tag-ivan-herrera","tag-jd-martinez","tag-mets","tag-oliver-marmol","tag-willson-contreras"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}