Willson Contreras will return to catching duties on Monday, per John Denton of MLB.com. He’ll catch Jack Flaherty’s begin. The transfer comes virtually every week after the group revealed they’d be utilizing Contreras exclusively as a designated hitter.
“We felt actually good concerning the progress that we’ve made and it traces up very well for him to catch on Monday with Jack (Flaherty) on the mound,” supervisor Oli Marmol informed reporters (including Denton).
It marks the most recent twist into what’s change into fairly the saga for the Cardinals and their main low season recruit. Only a week in the past it was reported that the group would depend on Andrew Knizner and Tres Barrera for catching duties, as they labored by means of points the group described as a “insecurity”.
It hasn’t taken lengthy for that to show round, however questions will definitely be forthcoming over the group’s dealing with of this, and whether or not it wanted to be performed out as publicly because it was when all it took was Contreras skipping every week or so of catching duties – roughly one journey by means of the group’s rotation.
The Cardinals have gained 4 of the 5 matches they’ve performed since shifting Contreras off catching duties, however run prevention has remained a problem by means of these video games, with the group giving up 21 runs by means of that interval. On the time of Contreras’ demotion, the Playing cards ranked twenty fourth in beginning pitching ERA, and so they’ve slipped again to twenty sixth since.
For Contreras’ half, he struggled on the plate over the previous week, hitting simply .192/.250/.346, however it’s after all unattainable to know precisely how the group’s resolution affected his efficiency on the plate. On the season, Contreras has continued to be a robust risk with the bat, and is hitting .263/.340/.406 with three residence runs to this point, good for a 109 wRC+.
It’s been a difficult season to this point in St Louis, with the group sitting in final place within the Nationwide League with a 14-25 report. As famous, they’ve been a bit higher over the previous week however there’s nonetheless a protracted option to go for them to show their season round.
