A lot of veterans left after last season, and the younger players have taken it upon themselves to lead the team.
It can seem kind of funny how much the players, the reporters, and the Cardinals coaches are emphasizing the youth of the 2025 team. It’s a young team, but you’d think they were talking about the Marlins (I would be the oldest player on the Marlins by two years; I am two months older than Erick Fedde.)
And honestly they’re mostly talking about the hitters. The starting rotation has Andre Pallante and everyone else is 32 or older. Among the hitters though, every player not named Nolan Arenado or Willson Contreras is entering the 2025 season with 3 years of MLB service or less. Bench included. So I think it’s more about service time than actual age.
Also playing into the theme of youth is the departure of Paul Goldschmidt and the possibility that Nolan Arenado would be gone, at least at the time of Winter Warmup. In addition to them, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, Andrew Kittredge, and even Keynan Middleton left for free agency. All of them, in their own way, were considered leaders. This has somewhat opened an apparent gap in leadership.
“It’s probably going to be an unconventional locker room as far as who is leading the joint,” Alec Burleson said. “That’s going to be the challenge. I don’t think it will be anything on the field. We have a lot of young guys who can play that are really talented, really good. They’re hungry, they’re ready to go. I think the challenge is going to be more off the field, trying to get guys to pull in the same direction.”
Maybe it’s just because Burleson and Brendan Donovan were in Arizona for Nolan Gorman’s wedding, but they seem to be a triumvirate working on how to lead and improve the team. But among that group, if you had to label one person the leader, it’s pretty clear it would go to Donovan.
“I think Donny has that on lock for the young guys,” Jordan Walker said. “He’s so knowledgeable right now and I think that I should really take the time to learn from him. Obviously I want to be a leader in this game and I’m not quite there. I think learning from him, learning from Sonny, and just learning from my teammates will help me get there.”
Donovan certainly behaves like a future manager. He was one of the few players who made sure to shake every reporter’s hand. And any good leader also leads by example.
“Donny is the ultimate professional,” bench coach Dan Descalso said. “He prepares every day. He plays a multitude of positions, did whatever was asked of him last year and went out and performed as well. The more you do that in the clubhouse, the more guys see you do that, the more respect you get from those other players.”
You can lead the clubhouse in less obvious ways too. Lars Nootbaar thinks the best way to help the team is just to be yourself.
“Making sure I am who I am so the guys can come up to me and ask me questions, feel comfortable with themselves,” Nootbaar said. “That’s a huge part of it as a young kid coming up. You want to make sure that you can talk to certain guys and seeing how they carry themselves was really important to me. I want to carry myself professionally and also at the same time be who I am.”
This is certainly a trait shared by two actual elder statesmen of the team, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras. Who seem to always be themselves, eager to help, and willing to listen.
“At times, he may not look like he’s not approachable,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “This guy, I mean he’s willing to talk baseball at all times of the day and the young guys love that about him. So there’s other guys in that clubhouse, Sonny, you mentioned Willson, who are extremely competitive and love teaching the young guys.”
Essentially, you want players to feel like they can approach you. You don’t want them to be intimidated or scared to ask for help.
“It’s our job to make them feel as comfortable as possible,” Donovan said. “If you’re comfortable and you care about someone and you’ve invested in someone, then you’re going to get the most out of them.”
As one of the approachable players for help, Sonny Gray is the second oldest player on the team, but he understands that it’s ultimately up to the younger players.
If you look at the talent especially on the position player side, those guys have to take it over,” Gray said. “It’s their clubhouse now. It’s their team. And we as older guys, I think it’s our job to lead them and mentor them, but to let them spread their wings and let them fly and let them take it over. Because the way I see it “it’s their team, it’s their locker room.” As a veteran guy that will be around, it’s more a guidance role, but there’s so much talent with the young players.”
Donovan isn’t really one of the younger players, and it shows in how he speaks about the team. He is excited about the younger crop coming into the season.
“They’re hungry,” Donovan said. “By hungry, I mean hungry for information, hungry to get better, hungry to learn from those around us, hungry to have success in this league, hungry to prove these fans right – because the fans do believe in us – hungry to make this organization have success and get us back in the postseason, that’s what I see from this group.
(No quote has ever sounded more like a Marmol quote to me; you could play a “Who said it?” game between Donovan and Marmol)
Like Burleson, Contreras doesn’t really doubt the talent of the team. But he thinks the team needs something you can’t quantify.
“The only thing I’ll say we need to have as a team is the right mindset to go day-by-day,” Contreras said “If you have the right mindset, you’re going to have a good career in the big leagues. But also, you’re going to help your teammates around you. Once they are looking at you and they don’t have any doubt about you playing baseball, you’re going to help the whole team.”
Nootbaar noted how many players came up through the system together. Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn rose through the system together. Though four years apart in age, Gorman and Donovan were actually in the same draft and were on the same minor league teams most of their pro careers. Ivan Herrera was in AA in 2021 and in AAA the next two years, so he’s been teammates in the minors with just about everybody who came up through the system.
From the outside, it at least seems like the team is in sync. At the very least, there is a rather large collection of players dedicated to making sure this team will be in sync. Again, communication does not seem to be an issue.
“I feel like we have a task at hand and we have to be able to execute,” Victor Scott said. “With all us being down there, we’re kind of developing that culture, that young core culture that everyone is kind of looking for.”