This winter, the St. Louis Cardinals made the brave decision to shift catcher Willson Contreras 90 feet up the line to first base in order to keep their most consistent hitter in the lineup day after day. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak announced the permanent switch in November, thereby sealing Paul Goldschmidt’s free agent status.
While the move might eventually increase St. Louis’ offensive potential, there are valid concerns about Contreras’ defensive performance in a new position. After all, the 32-year-old has only played first base 11 times in his career, the last with the Chicago Cubs in 2019.
Manager Oli Marmol discussed the positional move at the Cardinals’ 28th Winter Warm-Up, an event designed to energize the fan base ahead of the 2025 season. Fans should be concerned by his reaction, as it focuses on his desire rather than his ability level thus far.
“First base is hard,” Marmol said. “You believe you’ll put the least athletic person in at first. That’s not how it works; first base is quite difficult. Contreras is quite athletic. Stubby [Clapp] has just spent the last three days training with José Oquendo and Contreras in Jupiter on footwork around the bag and other things to slow down Contreras.
“The reports were quite positive. He is working hard on it. He is really dedicated to becoming a great first baseman. The key to all of this is to keep him healthy. A healthy Contreras in the lineup every day makes the Cardinals a better team, which is why we’re making the trade.
It may not be as seamless of a positional transition for Willson Contreras as the Cardinals may have hoped
We may be reading too much into Marmol’s statement, but what exactly does passion imply when, at the end of the day, the ball club needs results. The phrase suggests that there is a long way to go in terms of this working out, at least defensively.
While expectations for the 2025 Cardinals are low due to their inactivity this summer, the organization has unable to go beyond the Wild Card round of the playoffs since 2019. You’d expect a young Cardinals team going through a front office transition to be competitive in the National League Central. Contreras will play an important role in making that hope a reality.
The three-time All-Star finished second on the Cardinals in WAR (behind Masyn Winn) and first in OPS, despite having his season cut short in August due to a fractured middle finger on his right hand.
It is fair to say that Contreras will face a high learning curve in the early stages of the 2025 season. Yes, he is ‘passionate’. That’s the first step. The next step is to acquire and build the skills required to thrive at the level that the organization expects of him. We won’t know the true status until at least Spring Training. There are still many unanswered questions.
Yes, there are advantages to the relocation. However, being a consistent everyday first baseman in Major League Baseball requires far more than athleticism and excitement.
