MLB News: Earlier this year St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras was temporarily relieved of his catching duties. It was a brief stint, but the overall perceived message around the league was that their big free agent signing was playing a big role in why the pitching staff was struggling.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol basically announced this in a press conferencing by saying moving Contreras out from behind home plate will “allow for some familiarity behind the plate with our [pitching] guys, which I will help”. To spice the drama up Contreras fired back by saying “we (pitchers) need to be better at executing pitches with two strikes.”
Since this incident Contreras has been back behind the dish, but the Red Birds still cannot claw their way back into playoff contention. Since this occurred in early May a new report has indicated one massive reason why Contreras was relieved of his duties in the first place.
MLB News: Massive reason on why St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras was relieved of his catching duties revealed.
Per Michael Kay, who calls games for YES Network and ESPN, Willson Contreras was calling pitches that his pitchers did not have in their repertoire.
“I found out something, I was talking to a lot of the Cardinal people. The reason that they took Contreras out from behind the plate, he was calling pitches that the pitcher on the mound didn’t have… He would be calling for a cutter, for a pitcher that didn’t throw a cutter. The pitchers were going crazy.”
Getting to know and learn an entirely new pitching staff can be a daunting task, but this is not a good look for Willson Contreras. He is not a stellar pitch framer or defender, so this report surfacing just adds to all the turmoil going on in St. Louis this year.
