ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - For most of St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training, a lot of the focus has been on the progress of multiple players injuries, and how better is the team's pitching staff.
But one position that isn't getting a whole lot of attention is second base. While most people are going to assume Brendan Donovan has the position in his foothold and Nolan Gorman will mostly serve as the club designated hitter (DH) due to concerns with his back, but injuries has caused a temporary wiggle into that plan.
The Cardinals outfield has been dealing with injuries throughout Spring Training, with centerfielder Tommy Edman still recovering from off-season wrist surgery that will force him to miss Opening Day, while left fielder Lars Nootbaar is still recovering from a ribcage injury with his status still up in air.
The Cardinals do have depth in the outfield with Dylan Carlson, Alec Burleson, Michael Siani, and potentially Victor Scott II all viable options. One additional option is temporarily moving Donovan into the outfield on occasions.
Donovan has seen playing time in the outfield in the past two seasons, playing slightly over 480 innings in the corner outfield. Donovan has rated decently defensively in the outfield, posting a defensive runs saved (DRS) of 5 in the outfield according FanGraphs and a -3 in Outs Above Average (OAA) according to Baseball Savant.
If such a scenario happens, it would mean more playing time at second base for Gorman. While Gorman saw strides defensively at second in his second year in the Majors, posting a -2 OAA in 2023, up from -12 in his rookie year, concerns about his back does raise questions if Gorman can viably play second every day.
Cardinals Manager Oli Marmol says however he 'has no issues' playing Gorman at second base if needed, crediting the strides he's made to be better defensively.
"(Gorman) been moving around well, he turned a really good double play, and he's steady," said Marmol. "I have no issues with him playing second base at all."
Marmol says that there are plent of scenarios and opportunities that do exist where Gorman and Donovan can split duties at DH and second base.
"There's a way to do it where they both can get enough time at both the DH and second base," said Marmol. "At the end of the day, it's figuring out what gives you the best combination of both offense and defense where you're not chasing offense at the expense of defense."