Central STL News

Nolan Arenado will continue his recovery from a right shoulder strain at the St. Louis Cardinals’ Spring Training facility in Jupiter, Florida, according to manager Oliver Marmol. Arenado was placed on the 10-day injured list on August 1 and is expected to begin strengthening drills and batting practice sessions at the team’s complex in South Florida starting Friday.

“He’s supposed to travel down to our complex in Jupiter on Friday to start working through some stuff,” Marmol said. “I don’t know if it is baseball activities as much as it is just him starting strengthening [on his injured shoulder].

“It’s mainly about getting the shoulder back to full strength, and in the process, he’ll be working on everything.”

Arenado, age 34, has struggled with injuries this season. He missed games in early July due to a sprained index finger on his right hand and sat out additional games before the All-Star break because of shoulder irritation. These issues have affected his performance; he posted a .175 batting average with no home runs and only two RBIs during July. He has not hit a home run since June 21, marking a 25-game stretch without one—just short of his career-worst drought of 29 games.

For the current season, Arenado's offensive statistics are at their lowest levels since he began playing in Major League Baseball 13 years ago. His batting average stands at .235, with an on-base percentage of .294, slugging percentage of .366, and OPS of .660. In 96 games this year, he has recorded 10 home runs and 43 RBIs.

With Arenado sidelined, Nolan Gorman and Thomas Saggese have seen more time at third base for St. Louis. Gorman has recently contributed offensively with RBIs in three consecutive games after returning from injury himself and hit his tenth home run of the season during Tuesday night’s loss against the Dodgers.

Arenado remains under contract for $42 million over the next two seasons. As part of his rehab assignment, he may appear in Florida State League games for Palm Beach—the Cardinals’ Single-A affiliate.

“We’ll see what his progression looks like,” Marmol said. “My thought would be, as we get closer [to Arenado returning to full strength], that he would want to [play in some Minor League games]. But right now, we just want to get him down there and figure out what the plan needs to be.”