3 STL Cardinals to thank for reigniting the season

Players to thank for STL Cardinals turnaround: Nolan Gorman

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the Nolan show in St. Louis. While Arenado is back to his strong offensive showings, Nolan Gorman is putting up impressive offensive performances of his own. To be honest, while this list is a thank-you to the players who have helped the recent turnaround, Gorman is one of the only players who has been on all season thus far for St. Louis.

As it stands so far, he’s slugging second-best in the MLB and first in the National League all year at .629.

Gorman is currently on a nine-game hitting streak, including a three-hit game against the Brewers. He’s slugging over a thousand and his OPS is an outstanding 1.548, the highest of any of the routine starters on the team in the recent 8-2 stretch.

At times, Gorman has been a splendid boost to the latter half of the lineup that isn’t letting pitchers get any relief. Other days, he’s been placed into the top half by Oli Marmol. This season he’s batted third in 22 times in the first five slots of the lineup, and 14 times sixth or later.

His versatility doesn’t stop on the batting side, as he’s plugged in as a designated hitter but also played second base 16 times and third base six times, committing just a single error so far this season.

Gorman has been reliable, and in his second year is already showing he’s here to stay for the long haul, regardless of where Marmol needs to place him.