Photo: Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire

Part of a series of articles previewing the defensive performance of all 30 MLB teams by asking the question … are they good? To see the full series, click here.

2024 Defensive Runs Saved Rank: 13th

Team Strengths

If Nolan Arenado is still on the team, he’s a strength, though not close to what he once was. Pre-pandemic, he’d recorded eight straight seasons of double-digit Runs Saved. Post-pandemic, he’s had seasons of 9, 20, 0, and 6, with the latter being boosted largely by his play in September.

Masyn Winn led shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved and won a Fielding Bible Award last season. Though not every defensive metric holds him in that high a regard, we view Winn as excellent, and particularly great at turning double plays.

Michael Siani is going to have to earn a spot in center field, after a year in which he hit .228 with a .570 OPS. But Siani has the potential to be spectacular. He had 8 Runs Saved there last season and was particularly good at chasing down deep fly balls.

Team Weaknesses

With Willson Contreras now entrenched at first base (where he’s an unknown, with only 11 MLB games), Ivan Herrera is the starting catcher. Herrera threw out 2 of 57 runners trying to steal against him, which accounted for almost all of his -7 Runs Saved. His one plus is that he’s a good pitch blocker.

Jordan Walker has not been good in either of his two years in right field, tallying -13 Runs Saved. Same for Nolan Gorman at second base in his three years (-11 Runs Saved). 

Other Things To Know

Besides Contreras and how he handles first base, a wild card for the Cardinals will be how Lars Nootbaar fares in center field. In 109 career games in center field, he’s basically been league-average. He’s been very good in right field, with 13 Runs Saved in 213 games.

One of the reasons the Cardinals finished 13th in Runs Saved was defensive positioning. They netted the 3rd-most Runs Saved of any team in Outfield Positioning area, but that’s not something they can count on again (-1 in 2023). If we looked solely at Runs Saved from defensive skill, they ranked 17th.

Are The Cardinals A Good Defensive Team?

If they trade Arenado and don’t play Siani much, it’s going to be a hard sell to say they’re a good defensive team (unless they get a great defender back in trade). Average, probably. Good, probably not. But if they keep both of them, and Arenado plays to past form, they could be pretty good.