Nolan Arenado has taken up a big role for the St. Louis Cardinals at Spring Training He has become one of the leaders of the squad along with Paul Goldschmidt even after John Mozeliak got Matt Carpenter as a veteran back in January. However, it was his comments about the younger players that caught the attention of most individuals. Even Miles Mikolas took notice and added to the flame, via Foul Territory on X.
“It’s tougher to connect to younger generations. You wanna play ping pong against the guys, and some of the younger guys, sit around on their phones a lot, and it’s a lot of social media. I’d rather sit there and play some card games… Young players can be tough to approach as well. You don’t see things the same way or at the same eye level,” Miles Mikolas said as he backed up the Cardinals’ situation.
The Cardinals badly need everyone to connect at Spring Training to have a successful season. They finished last in the NL Central division with only 71 wins and a 43.8% winning percentage. Getting them in sync through off-the-field activities will allow them to get to know each other better which often leads to a better outcome when it comes to gamedays.
The Cardinals’ generational divide
Nolan Arenado was the first person to point out the divide between older guys and rookies in the Cardinals system. The third baseman did not hold back when he was addressing the young guns on the squad which is why they pushed for acquiring Matt Carpenter.
“Our team was just all young guys. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but they kind of overran the clubhouse and usually veterans run the clubhouse… There were just so many of them. I think if you want to get the best out of young guys, they’ve got to see how veterans do it. All-Stars and players who have been there before, that’s how you get them better. If they don’t have those types of figures, it’s hard for that to happen,” the Cardinals baseman declared.
The day after these comments were made Arenado, Mikolas, and Paul Goldschmidt all took up the role at Spring Training. Hopefully, this bears fruit for John Mozeliak’s Cardinals in the upcoming season.
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