The St. Louis Cardinals are hoping to have a nice bounce back campaign in 2024 after an ugly season in 2023, and a guy who is going to play a big role in that is Willson Contreras. After signing a five-year, $87.5 million deal in free agency last offseason, Contreras had a strong debut season with the Cardinals (.264 BA, 20 HR, 67 RBI, .826 OPS), but like every other player in the MLB, he spent the past few months looking for ways to improve his game.
While he’s not exactly a defensive liability, Contreras has always been considered an offensive-minded catcher, and that has helped him emerge as one of the best players at the position in the league. But over the offseason, Contreras revealed that he spent months working on how to become a better pitch-framer behind the plate, which led to a big change that will hopefully yield some big results.
“My main focus this year was framing. Basically, the whole offseason was talking about framing and how I can get better, how to create angles and how to attack the ball from down to up. I felt like I wasn’t getting a lot of strikes (low in the zone), and I should have been getting them. Talking to my brother and the way that he catches, he pretty much told me to forget about the traditional way and try the new way, because there are much better angles and ways to get under the ball. … I’m not trying to say the old way didn’t work, but nowadays, if you look around the league, everybody is going one knee down.” – Willson Contreras, The Athletic
Willson Contreras hoping new strategy pays big dividends
As pitch-framing has become a bigger tool for catchers in recent seasons, some guys have experimented with using new stances in an effort to get a leg up in this department. Contreras has largely used the traditional stance throughout his entire career, but he spent the offseason working on a new stance that sees him have one leg on the ground in an effort to create more advantageous angles for himself.
What once wasn’t even a talking point in the game of baseball has now become an area where players can gain a competitive advantage, and the Cardinals are hoping this change can help Contreras out behind the plate. As long as he keeps hitting, Contreras will have value for St. Louis, but he could establish himself as the top catcher in the game if he can nail the defensive improvements he’s been working on over the past few months.
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