Will the Cardinals Cut Ties with Slugger After More Strikeout Struggles

Growth, as St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol pointed out repeatedly over the final month of the 2026 season, can be measured in a variety of ways.

One way, of course, is the standings – an area where the Cardinals fell back a win from 2025 (78-84) to 2026 (77-85), one that was somewhat expected with the widespread youth on the roster and the club selling off veteran pitchers JoJo Romero and Dustin May for prospects at the MLB Trade Deadline.

Instead, the Cardinals tried to evaluate areas of growth in non-traditional ways in a non-traditional season in St. Louis.

Growth was having a defined core group of players – Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, Masyn Winn, Michael McGreevy, Kyle Leahy and Riley O’Brien – take major steps in their games and evolve into building blocks.

Growth was seeing Leo Bernal, Joshua Baez, Quinn Mathews, Cooper Hjerpe and Nathan Church live up to the hype that followed them from the Minor Leagues and show signs they can be depended on going forward.

Growth was Andre Pallante and Gordon Graceffo shaking off the struggles of 2025 and showing the fortitude to change the trajectory of their careers.

“This is a really young group, but there’s been a lot of progress with so many of these guys,” Marmol said. “You can go up and down the lineup and you see growth from so many of our guys. Then, go to the rotation and what McGreevy, Pallante and Leahy did this season, and the bullpen as well. Our staff has really enjoyed pouring into that group. They are hungry for information and they want to be coaches, so that’s made it a lot of fun.”

However, as president of baseball operation Chaim Bloom reminds, the Cardinals still have major gulfs between them and MLB’s top teams. The National League champion Brewers, after all, finished 26 games ahead of St. Louis and battered the Cards in 11 of 13 head-to-head meetings. Much more growth is needed for the Cards to better navigate the difference the rebuilding and contending.

With growth being the focus, let’s look back at the performances by individual players in the 2026 season and how they will figure into the Cards’ plans going forward in 2027 and beyond:

Player name: Nolan Gorman

Age: 26

How acquired: Selected by the Cardinals in the first round (No. 19 overall) of the 2018 MLB Draft

2026 statistics: 85 games, .184/.272/.308/.580, 26 runs, 49 hits, six doubles, nine home runs, 33 RBI, 98 strikeouts, 33 walks, zero stolen bases in one try

Key numbers: Gorman has worked with different hitting coaches and tried several different swings and approaches, but his strikeout woes persist. Here are his strikeout rates since his MLB debut: 32.9 percent (2022), 31.9 percent (2023), 37.6 percent (2024), 33.8 percent (2025) and 32.5 percent (2026).

Looking back to 2026: Gorman went into the season with the starting third base job his for the first time and he was unable to hang onto it because of more woes at the plate. He hit a hit in his first four games of the season and five of six before the bottom fell out again. He hit just .224 with 28 strikeouts in April, .192 with 30 strikeouts in May and 1 for 20 (.050) with 11 strikeouts seven June games before the Cardinals demoted him to Triple-A Memphis. Gorman admittedly struggled with the demotion for several weeks, but he did find his powerful stroke after the break for the MLB All-Star Game, allowing him to return to the big leagues in late August. Gorman’s biggest issue in 2026: He hit just .080 with 31 strikeouts against off-speed pitches, primarily changeups that fade away from his left-handed swing. It was another lost season for Gorman, who is in danger of getting non-tendered a contract for 2027, making him a free agent.

Looking forward to 2027: The Cardinals have given Gorman numerous chances over the past seasons to try and work his way out of his hitting troubles, but little has worked. He smashed 27 home runs in 2023, and the hope from there was that he could become a consistent 30-homer player and help the team overlook his unsightly batting averages and strikeout rates. However, his home run productions fell off to 19 in 2024, 14 in 2025 and just nine this past season.  

Denton’s analysis: The rebuilding Cardinals aren’t likely to spend enormous free-agent dollars on free-agent Alec Bohm or Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato, and they might be tempted to try some combination of Blaze Jordan, Thomas Saggese and Gorman at third base again if they strike out in free agency. However, Gorman seems like the perfect candidate for a fresh start elsewhere. At this point, that might be best for his happiness and his offensive approach. The Cardinals actions from 2026 – when they sent Gorman to Triple-A for most of June, all of July and most of August – spoke volumes about what they think his future is as their third baseman. Gorman just might hit 30 home runs someday in the future, but it isn’t likely to be wearing birds on a bat across his chest because of his enormous struggles at the plate.