The Cardinals are coming off dropping three of four against the Atlanta Braves at sit at an even 36-36 on the season for third in the National League Central.
Lars Nootbaar makes it to “The Good” portion on his name alone, but apart from that he has been tearing the cover off the ball in AAA Memphis.
His ISO is fairly high at .224, but it has only added up to 5 home runs on the season.
Jonathan Schoop on the other hand has hit home runs — 13 so far — but his ISO is lower than Baddoo’s at .197.
This might be less a sign of a dramatic turnaround for Goldy, though, and more a sign of just how poorly the Cardinals offense has been hitting lately.
He went on the Injured List after that game and returned May 5 where he has batted .228/.276/.333 for a 70 wRC+ since his return.
The Tigers top three players per Baseball Reference are actually three pitchers from their rotation, but the Cardinals will not face any of those pitchers.
Skubal has thrown seven different pitches in 2021, per Baseball Savant: a 4-seam fastball that catches a lot of the middle of the plate, a slider that catches a lot of the middle of the plate, a changeup that catches a lot of the middle of the plate, a curveball, a sinker, a split finger, and rarely, a cutter.
The 4-seamer was his most useful pitch in his last outing and his slider has the best Run Value per 100 pitches at -3.6, per Baseball Savant.
The Tigers pitchers are young and there is not much of a book on them, though, and the Cardinals have their two least experienced starters going against them in Johan Oviedo and John Gant.