It’s Monday June 16. Hello! I’m writing after the Cardinals lost three of four games in Wisconsin to complete their worst and most demoralizing week of the campaign. My mood? Well, it ain’t in the Fredbird hyper-happy mode.
OPENING STATEMENT. The Cardinals are having a crazy season. If you’re emotionally involved with this team, I will advise you on a few matters:
— Go easy on the distilled spirits, because your heavy drinking will not raise Lars Nootbaar’s batting average or prevent Ryan Helsley from serving up four-seam fastballs that turn into meatballs for the hitters.
— I don’t think it would help to send a message … through a spiritual wavelength … to Pope Leo XIV. The pontiff is a lifelong White Sox fan, so he won’t be offering any blessings to heal the Cardinals during their three-game stay on the south side of Chicago.
— Take the advice from the late Brian Wilson and add some music to your day. The songs that make you happy.
BIRD BYTES
1. Before we can decide who the Cardinals really are, they have to decide who they really are. Just look at three distinct phases to their season so far:
* The Redbirds crawled into the season by winning only 10 of their first 25 games.
* From there, they turned into a fast Indy car, blazing through a 16-5 hot streak
* Upon their re-entry into the normal world, the comeback Cards are 11-15 since May 18. In this case the word “comeback” Cards means coming back to earth.
2. Don’t Look Now … but the Cardinals have the worst record in the NL Central division in June. Their 4-10 month (to date) is three games worse than Pittsburgh’s 7-7 mark … Don’t look now, but the Cardinals are 0-4 in their last four games determined by a one-run margin … Don’t look now, but the Cardinals rank 11th among the 15 NL teams with a 15-21 road record … don’t look now, but since May 30 the Cardinals have a more sickly record (5-11) than the Colorado Rockies (5-10).
3. Starting pitching, sigh (not Cy): Over their last 19 games, St. Louis starting pitchers have a 5.54 ERA that ranks worst in the National League and is 29th overall. Sonny Gray had a hideous start in the first game at Milwaukee – but had been doing well before that. In their 11 combined starts since May 26 Miles Mikolas, Andre Pallante and Matthew Liberatore have been pelted for 44 earned runs in 55 and ⅓ innings for a 7.15 ERA. Erick Fedde has been OK, but his underlying metrics warn of trouble.
4. Michael McGreevy had another strong start for the Triple A Memphis Redbirds on Saturday, pitching six shutout innings at Gwinnett, giving up just three hits (no walks) with six strikeouts. In his last six starts for Memphis, McGreevy has a 1.11 ERA and a 30.4 percent strikeout rate. In 32 and ⅔ innings over the six starts McGreevy didn’t allow a homer, faced 128 batters, walked two of them, and struck out 39 of them. Gee, I wonder if the Cardinals could use a guy like that? Just a thought.
5. Nolan Gorman, warming trend. And it's also a warning to the pitchers. Among Cardinals that have 45 plate appearances since May 26, Gorman leads the team in batting average (.350), on-base percentage (.422), slugging percentage (.675), OPS (1.097), walk rate (11.1%) and wRC+. Per wRC+, Gorman is 105 percent above league average offensively since May 26.
6. Gorman a go-go, part two: Among left handed hitters in the National League that have at least 45 plate appearances since May 26, Gorman ranks 4th in batting average, 9th in on-base rate, 2nd in slugging, 5th in OPS, and 4th in wRC+. This is the proverbial small sample, but here’s my point: we were waiting for Gorman to produce after rebuilding his plate approach to have improved plate discipline. Well, he’s starting to put up numbers.
7. Gorman’s bat speed has increased. Before May 26, his average bat speed on a swing was 70.8 miles per hour. But over his last 16 games, that average bat speed has increased to 72.7 miles per hour. That’s a big difference. And we can see that in Gorman’s stronger numbers against four-seam fastballs: since May 26, Gorman is 6 for 7 (.857) with two doubles when smashing four-seam fastballs. Before May 26, Gorman was 2 for 22 with seven strikeouts against the four-seam fastballs.
8. Gorman, again: By the way, over his breakout stretch of offense since May 26, Gorman has pummeled right-handed pitchers for a .433 average and .767 slugging percentage. His totals over that time include two doubles, a triple and two homers. Gorman is taking better and more competitive at-bats against lefties.
9. Yeah, the St. Louis offense is struggling. The Cardinals have averaged 3.7 runs per game during their 5-11 downturn. Over that time they’ve hit .230 with a .302 on-base percentage and woeful .344 slugging percentage. In the 16 games the Cardinals were held to three runs or fewer nine times and scored two times or less in half of the 16 games. Per wRC+, five lineup regulars have produced below-average offense since May 30: Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott, Masyn Winn, Brendan Donovan and Nolan Arenado.
10. RISP, RIP: In the three losses at Milwaukee, the Redbirds had just two hits in 19 at-bats with runners in scoring position. That includes an awful 0 for 7 with RISP in Sunday’s 3-2 loss. With two men on and no outs, STL’s chance to tie or go ahead of the Brewers in the top of the ninth ended with three consecutive strikeouts by Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II and Masyn Winn.
11. What’s up with Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins? I must have missed the announcement when MLB commissioner Rob Manfred appointed Hoskins as the Sheriff in charge of policing other first basemen on the proper way to play the position.
Apparently, St. Louis first baseman Willson Contreras violated the rules set by Sheriff Hoskins when he (Contreras) recorded a put-out at first base to retire Milwaukee’s Chad Durbin, who hit a ground ball to third baseman Nolan Arenado. Conteras stepped off the bag and into the path of Durbin. It was a clumsy but unintentional mistake by Contreras, but Sheriff Hoskins hollered at him from the Milwaukee dugout.
But it’s funny how Sheriff Hoskins wouldn’t look Contreras in the eye when each of them reached base after getting hit by a pitch. I’m not sure how a Sheriff is supposed to handle these cases, but if Sheriff Hoskins wanted to warn Contreras of a rules violation and perhaps write him a ticket, he should have done it when both of them were standing shoulder to shoulder. But when Contreras tried to engage Hoskins, the Sheriff wouldn’t acknowledge him. Look, if you’re the Sheriff you can’t be afraid to enforce the law just because the accused suspect (Contreras) would give you a smackdown. Turn in your badge, Sheriff Hoskins.
12. Looking at Lars Nootbaar. Or maybe looking away from Nootbaar. In the first two games against the Brewers, Noot went 0 for 8 with four strikeouts and a walk. The four strikeouts came in the Saturday game, when Noot went hitless in five at-bats. He didn’t play Saturday or Sunday. This slump is not a recent development. The truth of the matter: since May 1, Nootbaar has 30 hits in 152 at-bats for a .197 average. His .271 on-base percentage over the last six-plus weeks is a horrendous .271, and he’s slugged .303. Worst of all is his 28 percent strikeout rate since the beginning of June.
13. Brendan Donovan went 2 for 4 with a strikeout as the leadoff man in Sunday’s game. Marmol made the right call to go with Donovan at No. 1 instead of Masyn Winn. Last season Winn had 470 plate appearances as the leadoff hitter and mustered a substandard .290 on-base percentage that ranked near the bottom of the majors for No. 1 hitters. Winn’s career leadoff OBP is .286. In his 27 games (when batting at any lineup spot), Winn has a .234/.265/.306 slash line.
14. Ryan Helsley worked the 9th inning Saturday and it was more of the same. Helsley didn’t have a save opportunity during the four-game series at Milwaukee. But manager Oli Marmol got Helsley some work at the start of the 9th inning Saturday with the Cards holding an 8-4 lead. Helsley got the three outs to put the win in the bag, but he gave up two hits including a homer by William Contreras.
Helsley has a 9.00 ERA in his last four appearances and a 6.00 ERA in his last nine assignments. Contreras crushed Helsley’s four-seam fastball for the home-run shot, and Helsley continues to serve up meatballs with those fastballs.
This season opponents are 22 for 50 (.440) with two doubles and two homers against Helsley’s four-seam – and have struck out only eight times.
It’s even worse when the right-handed Helsley throws a four-seam fastball to a right-side batter: 11 for 21 (.524) with a .762 slugging percentage, a 60% hard-hit rate, and two strikeouts.
But everything is fine.
15. Why is top Cardinals prospect JJ Wetherholt still at Double A Springfield? Why hasn’t he been promoted to Triple A Memphis? And why are the Cardinals having Wetherholt play shortstop (only) at Memphis instead of giving him some time at second base and third base? Since JJ started the 2025 season by going 0 for 14 in his first four games, he’s batted .353 with a .468 on-base percentage and .529 slug – and has a lot more walks (33) than strikeouts (24.) What is there to learn for Wetherholt at Double A?
15a. Down at Memphis, infielder Thomas Saggese is crushing it so far in June, batting .419 with a .998 OPS. Since May 15, Saggese has thrashed Triple A pitching for a .357 average, .429 OBP and .868 OPS. The big club prefers having Jose Barrero in the utility-dude role. Barrer is 3 for 22 (.136) with a 30 percent strikeout rate. And his start at shortstop in Sunday’s game at Milwaukee was Barrero’s first start at the position since May 5.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting. You can access all of his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him weekdays on the “Gashouse Gang” or “Redbird Rush Hour” on KMOX (104.1-FM and 1120-AM.