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The St. Louis Cardinals made some adjustments to the order during their series against the Detroit Tigers. Star third baseman Nolan Arenado is no longer in the clean-up spot and is now hitting out of the six-hole. In his first game batting out of that spot, St. Louis earned an 11-4 win over Detroit.
It's been a rough go for the 34-year-old veteran, as he owns a .215 batting average and .583 OPS in the past month. Due to his struggles, Nolan Arenado reportedly approached Cardinals manager Oli Marmol about moving down in the order, according to Katie Woo of The Athletic. After the discussion, the two felt it was best to make an adjustment to the lineup.
When asked about it, Arenado was straight up with his answer. The eight-time All-Star claimed that his teammates hitting behind him in the lineup are, and were, playing better than he was. So it only made sense for him to move down so they could be in a better position to help the team.
“The guys are [and] were hitting behind me, and they should move up. There's really nothing more to it than that.”
The top of the order remains the same with Lars Nootbar, Masyn Winn, and Brendan Donovan hitting one, two, and three. Nolan Arenado drops to the sixth spot in the lineup with Wilson Contreras taking over the clean-up role. Ivan Herrera served as the Cardinals' designated hitter in Monday's game, but the team could go back to one of Alec Burleson or Nolan Gorman in that position.
Making this switch allows the Cardinals to take advantage of the hot bats. It's a smart move considering St. Louis is firmly in the mix of the NL Central, being just one game behind the first-placed Chicago Cubs.
Nolan Arenado could work his way back up the order, but he'll have to regain consistency at the plate. So far this season, the five-time Silver Slugger owns a .241 batting average and .316 OBP while recording 41 hits, four home runs, and 19 RBIs through 170 at-bats.
