Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado gets injury update after leaving game early
St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado exited his team’s win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday afternoon after being hit by a pitch on his right hand, via John Denton of MLB.com.
To add insult to injury for Arenado, he was ruled to have swung on the pitch, which resulted in a strikeout. He went 0-for-4 on the day.
The good news is that X-rays came back negative. Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said that Arenado should be “fine,” as the ball hit him on the back of the hand rather than on the fingers. It’s being classified as a bone bruise, per Denton.
This is just the latest blow in what has been a frustrating season for Arenado overall, as he is slashing just .260/.315/.380 with six home runs and 31 RBI.
The Cardinals at least improved to 33-34 with the win and are still firmly in the National League playoff picture. While they are 6.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the NL Central, they are currently tied with the San Diego Padres for the final Wild Card spot. They are just 3.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the top Wild Card.
Of course, the fact that St. Louis is in legitimate playoff contention may say more about the state of the National League than it does about the Cardinals. Nevertheless, the Redbirds are right in the thick of it, so potentially losing Arenado for an extended period of time wouldn’t be the greatest news, even considering his struggles.
Nolan Arenado has not lived up to expectations for the Cardinals
The Cardinals acquired Arenado in a trade with the Colorado Rockies back in February 2021.
It was viewed by many as a coup for St. Louis at the time, given that Arenado was under contract through 2027 and was considered one of the best third basemen in baseball. However, there were some who raised caution about Arenado’s home-road splits in Colorado.
Still, because Arenado was so talented, it seemed like a move the Cardinals had to make. After all, he had posted OPSes of well over .900 for four straight seasons between 2016 and 2019 before recording a .738 OPS in his final season with the Rockies, which was the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.
