The St. Louis Cardinals are having a nightmare season, and it just got even worse. Their catcher, Willson Contreras, needs surgery and will be out for six-to-eight weeks after sustaining a left forearm fracture Tuesday during the team’s 7-5 loss to the New York Mets.
The way the fracture happened was a freak accident. In the top of the second inning, Contreras’ arm was hit by J.D. Martinez‘s bat as he was swinging at a pitch. As soon as the bat hit Contreras’ body, it was clear something was wrong. He immediately fell to the ground, shouting and writhing in pain, and left the game shortly after.
It might seem like catchers get hit with bats all the time, but it’s not that common. The hitter and catcher are typically set up with the perfect amount of distance between them to avoid contact. Martinez was standing right in the middle of the box, and Contreras, in his ninth year in the majors, is a seasoned veteran who shouldn’t have an issue finding his position at the plate.
So what happened? It turns out the Cardinals wanted Contreras, who statistically has been the most valuable player on the team this year, to improve his framing a bit. According to Cardinals beat writer John Denton, the Cards wanted him to get more low strikes, so they had him move up closer to the plate. Unfortunately, moving up that little bit put him in the path of Martinez’s bat.
That Contreras was injured due to a Cardinals intervention feels fitting given the season the team has been having. Tuesday’s loss was their sixth in the past eight games. They’re 15-21, six games below .500, and in last in the National League Central. As for their other heavy hitters, Paul Goldschmidt is hitting .195, and Nolan Arenado‘s power has gone completely missing. Without Contreras, who is hitting a team-best .280/.398/.551, the lineup’s cumulative wins above replacement is actually in the negative.
All the Cardinals can do now is wait for Contreras to heal. Until he returns, backup Iván Herrera will be manning the backstop.
