St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado already has a resume that most baseball players can only dream of. Arenado is an eight-time All-Star, a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner, a five-time Silver Slugger, and a three-time NL leader in home runs. However, the 32-year old third baseman is approaching the 2024 season as if he has everything in the world to prove.
According to Arenado, he feels as if he's the unproven third baseman trying to prove himself as a long-term keeper for the Colorado Rockies, approaching the start of the 2024 Spring Training for the Cardinals as if he's trying to earn an everyday role.
“I just feel like I’ve got a little something to prove. It’s almost like I’ve come to spring training with the mindset I had in Colorado in my first few years, where I’m trying to establish myself. That’s kind of how I came into this spring for some reason. I just feel that way. I do feel like I have something to prove again,” Arenado said, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
It's not too difficult to see why Nolan Arenado would feel this way after the 2023 season he and the Cardinals had. From a personal performance point of view, Arenado suffered a precipitous drop-off in production last season. His OPS dropped from .891 to .774, while his WAR dropped from an elite 7.4 to a middle of the pack 2.6, which has him as close to league average as he's been since his breakout year in 2014.
Meanwhile, amid Arenado's steep drop-off, the Cardinals faltered. A usual powerhouse in the NL Central, St. Louis won a measly 71 games in 2023, marking the first time since 2007 that the team finished with a record below .500.
Nolan Arenado knows that turning things around for himself will help facilitate a huge turnaround for a Cardinals franchise that's treading uncharted territory.
“It’s very simple: I want to be better this year than last year from an individual standpoint. Team standpoint? I want the best for them. I know when I’m playing the way I should and feeling the way I should, I can help this team win a lot of games,” Arenado added.
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