ST. LOUIS -- Having seen his power numbers decrease for a third straight season and outwardly wondering, “I don’t know if it’s coming back or not,” star third baseman Nolan Arenado said it was his idea that he be moved down in the Cardinals’ batting order prior to Monday’s series opener against the Tigers.
After hitting cleanup most of the season and slashing just .247/.323/.380, Arenado was dropped below surging sluggers Willson Contreras and Iván Herrera and into the No. 6 spot in the lineup. Arenado hit sixth in the Cardinals' order in 15 games in 2024 when he was struggling offensively, and he’s been at that spot in the order in 76 games over his 13-year MLB career.
“We switched the lineup [because] the guys are playing well in front of me, and the guys who were hitting behind me, they should move up in front of me,” said Arenado, who cleaned several dozens of bats out of his locker prior to Monday’s game. “There's really nothing more to it than that.”
Compared to the high standards he set earlier in his career when he hit at least 30 home runs and drove in at least 100 runs for seven straight seasons -- sans the COVID-shortened 2020 season -- Arenado has largely struggled at the plate since finishing third in the voting for the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 2022. His home run totals have dropped from 30 in 2022 to 26, 16 and just four this season. Similarly, his RBI totals have gone from 103, 93, 71 and 18 this season.
“I don't really have an answer. Just play better, play more the way I think I'm capable of,” Arenado said. “But it's been a minute since I’ve felt like I could play the way I should. So I don't know if it's coming back or not.”
The Cardinals have played their best baseball of the season in May, putting together a nine-game winning streak and winning 12 of their past 14 games before Monday. However, St. Louis has done it without getting much production from Arenado in the heart of the lineup. He entered Monday hitting just .254 in May, while his OPS for the month is .619 after compiling just two extra-base hits (one double, one homer). His .703 OPS for 2025 would be a career low if it stays at that level.
“I believe that all is not lost,” Arenado said. “I don't know, I just feel like I've been in a rut for a little bit now … for a few years now. So I don't know, I don't know what to tell you and I don't have the answers.”
Arenado came to the plate in key moments late in two recent games, but he was unable to convert for the Cards. In last Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Phillies that ended their nine-game winning streak, Arenado was at the plate in the top of the eighth with Lars Nootbaar on third and Masyn Winn on second and one out. He jumped ahead 2-0 in the count, but he proceeded to foul out on an 85.3 mph sweeper to first baseman Bryce Harper.
On Sunday, with the Cards trailing 2-1 in the ninth inning and Brendan Donovan in scoring position, Arenado was again late on a pitch -- this one a 95.3 mph fastball from Royals closer Carlos Estévez -- and fouled out to first baseman Salvador Perez.
Amidst rumors that he could have been traded and also with him using his no-trade clause to block a potential deal to the Astros, Arenado spent most of the winter working with Muay Thai trainers and others to drop weight and regain the quickness that was a hallmark of his swing early in his career. Despite a few flashes, his bat has continued to lag again in 2025.
Arenado’s average exit velocity of 86.8 mph ranks in the bottom 14 percentile in MLB, per Baseball Savant. His average bat speed in 2025 (71.5 mph) is up from 2024 (70.7 mph), but his barrel rate of 3.4 percent (14th percentile) has dropped and his chase rate of 31.8 percent has climbed.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol is confident the eight-time All-Star can regain his swing and work his way back to the cleanup role, the spot where 158 of his career 345 home runs have come.
“The conversations with Nolan … this is just about giving him a breather as he works through this and moving the other two guys up a spot,” Marmol said. “It’s [about] his swing and where he feels right about it.”
Arenado debunked the notion that there is less pressure hitting sixth than fourth, saying, “I don't think it's pressure; it's just performance.”