WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Last season while demonstrated the strength to accept the things swirling around him he couldn’t change, he also started taking the steps toward what his manager described as “drastic†changes in the things Contreras can control behind the plate.
Amid one of the weirdest sagas of the 2023 Major League Baseball season, Contreras went from big-ticket free-agent acquisition and anointed successor to to having his defensive ability and aptitude publicly called into question by his new organization.
Contreras’ initial response to the whirlwind was simply to absorb the slings and arrows sent his way.
Now, he’s rolling out the next phase of his response. With guidance and encouragement from his younger brother , who is quickly becoming one of the best all-around catchers in the majors for the Milwaukee Brewers, Contreras has transformed the way he’s receiving and framing pitches heading into his second season with the Cardinals.
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“It’s a drastic difference, which is hard to do midseason when you’ve never done it,†Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said after a spring training game this month. “It’s like changing your entire batting stance and trusting that it will go well.
“He’s done something for a long time a certain way. So he took the offseason to address it and make the changes necessary to be able to do what he did today. And today was awesome — really, really good.â€
Contreras came up through the minors and broke into the majors as a “traditional†style catcher, both feet planted firmly under him similar to the way former Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons would appear behind the plate in old grainy video.
This spring, Contreras’ approach behind the plate includes going exclusively to a one-knee down setup, an altered way he’s setting his glove and changes to his body positioning.
“(The Cardinals) would say, ‘Look around the league,’ †Contreras said. “Everyone is getting on the ground a lot. The umpires get a better view. The framing has been, for the last few years, an art. I mean, it’s getting calls. It’s huge, and I understand that.
“So I talked to (the Cardinals) and talked to my brother. We worked together. Now, I just need to keep the consistency with it and keep working with it.â€
Frame game
Last season, Contreras couldn’t argue with the pitch-framing data. , he ranked 56th out of 63 qualified catchers in catcher framing runs. Over the course of 2,765 pitches, he’d cost the Cardinals pitching staff five runs with his framing.
Meanwhile, William’s ability behind the plate had been worth seven runs in the Brewers’ favor, tied for the fifth-most of any catcher in the big leagues.
As last season was unfolding, Contreras realized he wasn’t getting calls that could have made a crucial difference for his pitching staff.
In the offseason when he and his brother broke down video of his performances, they concluded Contreras wasn’t giving the umpires a good view of the pitches.
This offseason wasn’t the first time Contreras’ younger brother tried to convince Willson to make a change. The two regularly train together in the offseason.
“But I was kind of — I’ll say hard-headed (about) not going one-knee down because I like to catch the traditional way, the way I was taught,†Contreras said. “But if you look around and you look at baseball, how much it has changed, there’s no reason why I would stick it out with something tradition if the new ways of catching are helping the team and helping everybody around the league. I needed to be open-minded about it, and I allowed myself to be.
“The greatest part is that I have Oli’s support. He’s supporting me, and he knows the things that I’m doing are going to be good for the season and the team.â€
A frustrating transition yields a new look
Originally a third baseman coming into minor leagues, Contreras converted to catcher in 2012. His first full season as a catcher came in 2013.
Everything he learned about catching came from the time he made the switch through his first seven seasons in the majors with the Cubs.
Video of Contreras behind the plate last season shows his torso largely upright to start. His glove stayed high and he often received the ball with a more straight arm and stopping the ball and holding it right where he caught it. When he’d set up in his stance, even when he went to one knee, he’d often begin high and sink down slightly as the pitcher began his delivery.
The fact his glove remained high contributed to . Extremely hard-throwing relief pitcher Jordan Hicks entered the game in the eighth inning throwing at velocities upwards of 102 mph.
Contreras didn’t get his glove down fast enough to a low pitch from Hicks that smacked off the top of his knee guard and caromed up the first base line in foul territory.
This spring, Contreras’ torso is much lower. At times he’s almost parallel to the ground, his back nearly flat like a table. He gives the pitcher a target with his glove, then he brings the glove all the way to the ground and comes up from the ground to catch the pitch.
“I’m trying to stay under the ball and not over the ball,†Contreras said. “That’s what happened. That’s the two big differences between last year and this year, so far in spring. Last year, I was on top of the ball too much, and this season I’m trying to stay under a little longer. It’s been helping me during spring, and it feels better that way.â€
Of course, getting to that point tried Contreras’ patience in ways he didn’t expect. Initially, he fought against himself as he tried to keep his body down during drills with baseballs fed into a pitching machine.
Eventually, he found a method that accomplished his goal of coming under the ball while also keeping a sense of rhythm and flow. Ultimately, it became a matter of “time and trust.â€
When he got to the point of trusting his hands, it clicked.
“It’s really hard and frustrating, to be honest,†Contreras said with a laugh. “When I first started working out with my brother I couldn’t do it, the first 100 reps. He kept telling me, ‘Don’t get frustrated. It’s going to be hard.’ … Once you get the move, it’s fun. I think you have to be willing to adjust to the game and be willing to get frustrated a little bit.â€
Contreras likened it to a person beginning yoga. At first, there’s an uncomfortable feeling in many of the positions or poses. Only with time and practice can the person’s body adjust and acclimate.
He’s also not reaching to catch the ball as much as he had in the past. His arm is more bent as he pulls the ball in and tries to slide it into the nearest part of the strike zone.
“I was just catching the ball where it was,†Contreras said. “If it was outside and my glove was outside (it stayed there). I wasn’t moving the ball around. During the season, I was looking at the numbers. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ weren’t good at all. That’s when I started going one-knee down.
“My brother called me and said, ‘Hey, you need to start moving the ball.’ I was like, ‘OK, I’ll give it a try.’ But I wasn’t feeling comfortable because I’d never done it before. I’d lose the rhythm of it.â€
Early results are promising
The difference in Contreras’ setup, the way he’s catching and moving behind the plate are clearly visible. As he catches more pitches, more innings, more games, the data will show whether his framing becomes more of an asset for the Cardinals.
Marmol has pointed out specific examples this spring, such as a start when Contreras worked with free-agent addition Kyle Gibson. A right-handed starter who pitches to contact, Gibson’s sinker has been his most used pitch in recent years.
Locating that pitch at the bottom of the strike zone is critical for Gibson, and getting low strike calls plays a big part in forcing hitters to swing the bat and put those pitches in play — often in the form of weak contact.
“You look at the pitches underneath the zone that he was getting to and how he was getting to them, and he was probably the best I’ve seen him today,†Marmol said after Contreras caught Gibson in a Grapefruit League outing. “He did a really, really nice job.â€
Miles Mikolas has also thrived by pitching to contact and forcing opposing hitters to put balls in play. He’ll be in his second season working with Contreras.
“He looked great back there today,†Mikolas said after his outing Saturday. “I know that he was framing the ball well. We didn’t get some close calls, but those are really close. Being an umpire is very hard. It’s very difficult. The ball is moving very fast. It’s tough, and Willson is doing his best job to frame them there.â€
Contreras admits sometimes he’s not entirely sure how well things are going in the moment — though he’s starting to “feel better†about his outings as spring continues.
“The first couple of games are just tough because you don’t know if you’re doing it good or doing it bad,†Contreras said. “But right after, when I go home, I start watching video and I’ve been doing a pretty good job even though it doesn’t feel that way. I’ve been getting calls and helping the pitchers a lot.â€