The Cards are too left-handed. Way worse power against lefties.

[CCard]

Only 14 HR vs Lefties and 48 against Righties. While some of that can be explained by facing Righties more, their avg split is 25 points lower vs Lefties. Basically Noot, Gorman, Burley, and Scott II all suck against Lefties. Probably need to platoon more but who do you platoon with?

[Web7]

Yet another year of awful roster construction from Mo

[sdaltons]

Definitely something called a "Ryan Vilade" will save the day!

[sp25]

A lineup consisting of Willson Contreras, Ivan Herrera, and Nolan Arenado should be able to hit some home runs against left handed pitching. Just saying.

[BrockFloodMaris]

A lineup consisting of Willson Contreras, Ivan Herrera, and Nolan Arenado should be able to hit some home runs against left handed pitching. Just saying.

I agree, they should. But, how many IBB are those three going to get this year? My point is that none of them is a truly dangerous home run hitter.

[CCard]

The lefty bats just seem pretty futile against lefty pitching, except for Donovan some.

[sikeston bulldog2]

The lefty bats just seem pretty futile against lefty pitching, except for Donovan some.

Yep. Seems we get more neutralized than when we implore a lefty.

[rockondlouie]

Bernie did excellent research on this topic:

MY STAT GEEK NUMBERS OF THE DAY: THE CARDINALS VS. LEFTY PITCHERS.

This is a helluva note, and I’m glad I took the time to research it.

The St. Louis hitters are at a disadvantage this season, and here’s the first reason: as a group, left-handed pitchers are having an exceptional 2025 season, one of the very best in MLB history. The second reason: the Cardinals have a lot of left-handed hitters in their cast of position players. And lefty vs. lefty encounters aren’t good for the hitters. More on that in a bit.

Here are the relevant numbers …

– MLB hitters (from both sides of the plate) have a .238 batting average against lefties so far, and that would be the lowest vs. lefties in a season since the so-called Modern Era began in 1901. Yep. I’m not kidding.

– Based on the wRC+ metric – which adjusts for ballpark effects and the run-scoring trends in a particular season – 2025 would be the worst hitting performance against left-handed pitchers since 2002. (There is no data on that before 2002.) The batters collectively are seven percent below league average offensively vs. lefties, which is a significant drop from where they’d been in the past five or six seasons.

– In the 124 seasons starting with 1901, the on-base percentage against lefties this year (.308) would be the fourth-lowest during the 124 seasons.

– This year’s slugging percentage (.382) against the lefties would rank 76th over the 124 seasons.

– The OPS vs. lefties (.692) would rank 96th in the last 124 seasons.

– Lefty pitchers have combined for a 3.60 ERA so far in 2025, and that would be the lowest ERA by LH pitchers in a campaign since 1981.

– These nasty lefties collectively have a strikeout rate that’s 15 percent higher than their walk rate so far in 2025. Here’s what that means: this would be the biggest gap between strikeouts (good!) and walks (bad!) for left-handed pitchers since 1901.

OK, so why is this bad for the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals?

Simple answer: at the start of the new week, the Cardinals rank second among the 30 MLB teams for most plate appearances against left-handed pitchers. (Only the Phillies have more.) And this is an unfavorable matchup for the Cardinals.

STL’s right-handed batters don’t exactly destroy LHP – they have only 10 homers, for example – but as a group they’re seven percent above league average offensively against vs. lefties (per wRC+.)

However, the Cardinals’ left-side bats have hit only .213 and slugged a poor .304 when facing lefties. And per wRC+, their overall performance against the so-called southpaws is 22 percent below league average offensively.

Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan are two percent above league average against LH pitching this season and have produced the only four home runs. The other left-handed bats – Victor Scott II, Alec Burleson, Nolan Gorman and Michael Siani – are collectively way below league average when confronting lefty hurlers.

[Futuregm2]

Only 14 HR vs Lefties and 48 against Righties. While some of that can be explained by facing Righties more, their avg split is 25 points lower vs Lefties. Basically Noot, Gorman, Burley, and Scott II all suck against Lefties. Probably need to platoon more but who do you platoon with?

You forgot Donovan in there, too. Donovan has a .384 SLG% vs LHP. Yet we always bat him 3rd no matter what.

[rockondlouie]

Only 14 HR vs Lefties and 48 against Righties. While some of that can be explained by facing Righties more, their avg split is 25 points lower vs Lefties. Basically Noot, Gorman, Burley, and Scott II all suck against Lefties. Probably need to platoon more but who do you platoon with?

You forgot Donovan in there, too. Donovan has a .384 SLG% vs LHP. Yet we always bat him 3rd no matter what.

More suspect lineup construction from Oli.

With Noots struggles, Donny (when he returns) needs to hit leadoff.

[CCard]

Only 14 HR vs Lefties and 48 against Righties. While some of that can be explained by facing Righties more, their avg split is 25 points lower vs Lefties. Basically Noot, Gorman, Burley, and Scott II all suck against Lefties. Probably need to platoon more but who do you platoon with?

You forgot Donovan in there, too. Donovan has a .384 SLG% vs LHP. Yet we always bat him 3rd no matter what.

Yeah, but we really don't have someone to replace Donovan. I get your drift though.