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JUPITER, Fla. — With his latest position-switching pupil standing near a new home, first base, Cardinals coach Jose Oquendo described the situation to Willson Contreras. A left-handed batter was about to put a ground ball in play that would draw Contreras away from first base, and Oquendo wanted to see how the aspiring first baseman reacted.

“Cheo,� Oquendo’s nickname, hit the grounder.

Contreras strode to his right and forward to intercept it.

He stopped and turned to flip the ball to the pitcher — who wasn’t there to cover.

“That was the first trap Cheo set for me,� Contreras said.

Two days a week for the past three weeks, Contreras has arrived at the Cardinals’ spring training facility at Roger Dean Stadium for first thing’s first independent study with Oquendo. Shifting the All-Star catcher to a capable first baseman is the spring task for a coach who helped Albert Pujols move to first base, Skip Schumaker move from center field to second base and countless other fielders find a greater range in the field. Oquendo has been taking Contreras through the paces of fundamentals, and the pitcher not covering first was a reminder of the cardinal rule Contreras has already learned.

“Always moving, always moving to first base, always moving as a first baseman,� Contreras said. “I thought the first baseman gets the ground ball and then you run to the base or that the pitcher is going to cover. That got me. You have to move. You have to always move.�

This is not the first time in his career Contreras has agreed to move positions — he switched to catcher as a young prospect for the Cubs — but it is the first time he’s moved to be able to stay.

The Cardinals wanted to clear playing time for young catchers Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages, and early in the offseason, the club presented Contreras with several options. He could waive his no-trade clause and they would seek interested teams, or he could move positions — to either outfield or first base. Contreras chose first.

He ordered new gloves from Rawlings and got two smaller-sized first basemen gloves for training and two first basemen gloves for games. Coach Stubby Clapp is working in one of those for him. Two years after being signed to replace Gold Glove winner Yadier Molina after his retirement, Contreras will tag in for Gold Glove winner Paul Goldschmidt after his departure to the Yankees as a free agent.

When Cardinals pitchers and catchers report Tuesday to Jupiter and hold their first official workout Wednesday, Contreras said he won’t be among them.

He’s a first baseman.

And he’s been coming to camp for weeks, anyway.

“I’m trying to have as much fun as I can,� Contreras told the Post-Dispatch on Friday afternoon outside the clubhouse. “I’m open-minded. I don’t regret this decision. For sure, I’m excited. I know how much I like to work.�

A few hours earlier, he walked with Oquendo, Class AA coach Danny Black and a trainer out to the Cardinals’ half-field named for infielder Ozzie Smith and used by infielders for practice. Greeting Contreras was a constellation of baseballs scattered near first base, all around where the first baseman would stand ready for a grounder. There was a baseball two strides behind him, another two or three strides in front and to the left. There was a baseball half a stride toward the base — and then another two strides straight behind him.

Oquendo had Contreras start at the usual position and then, when told, retreat or advance to pick up the ball and get it to first, either as a flip to Black as the pitcher or on his own.

The purpose of the drill was — well, let Contreras explain.

“The hard, short hopper or line drive and, if it bounces, how do we recover from it?� the former catcher said. “It was really interesting when I saw a lot of balls all around and he asked me to go get it.�

At one point in the workout, Oquendo stood in front of Contreras and rolled balls to a specific spot to simulate a hard grounder or line drive caroming off his glove and having to recover. Oquendo tossed a ball right at Contreras’ feet to see the footwork.

“Once you learn something, it’s hard to forget,� said Contreras, who played third base before moving to catcher. “It hasn’t been too difficult for me to go through this process because my instincts are there. I know they are there somewhere around my brain. But I always like to ask Cheo and let him teach, let him show me again the ways so I can get better.�

First base and infield coach Clapp also spent time with Contreras and Oquendo in in the past few weeks going through drills. On Friday, Contreras started on a turf field with a knee down and Oquendo sending him short-hops to work on digging throws out of the dirt. Oquendo has done a similar drill with Contreras but rocketed fungo-liners from second toward first base for Contreras to scoop.

The coaches have rolled out a pitching machine a few times to work on Contreras reading ground balls at various paces — when to rush to create a short hop and when to step back and allow for a long hop.

All it takes is a few words for Oquendo to change those calculations, too.

He tells Contreras to respond as if a runner is at first.

“The man is on first and the ball is hit toward me — and the question becomes how many steps are young going to take to throw the ball to second base and get back to the base,� Contreras said. “Or how many steps can you take to step on the bag and throw the ball? When you’re talking about the footwork, you need to be aware of where the base is, who is running and how far you are from the base. Let’s say somebody runs well — is a lefty running well — and the ball is hit at you. How many steps can you afford to take to throw the ball to second base, and then how many steps are you going to take back to the base?�

Contreras is going throw all the steps because he and the Cardinals believe leaving home behind for first will increase the days Contreras will be in the lineup.

Since signing a five-year, $87.5 million contract to be Molina’s heir, Contreras has been limited to 148 games at catcher due mostly to two fractures and a brief, awkward decision in 2023 by the Cardinals to plant him at designated hitter for a few weeks. When he has been in the lineup, he’s produced. This past season, Contreras hit .262 with a .380 on-base percentage and a team-best .848 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). In two seasons and 729 at-bats with the Cardinals, he’s hit 35 homers with 103 RBIs to go with a slash line of .263/.367/.468. If Contreras had played first with that same production, his on-base percentage would rank sixth at the position, his slugging percentage 10th among everyday first basemen and his OPS of .835 would rank sixth.

That would put him between Tampa Bay’s Yandy Diaz (.861) and Boston’s Tristan Casas (.832) and ahead of the Mets’ Pete Alonso (.807) and Houston’s Christian Walker (.819). In the past two seasons since his MVP summer with the Cardinals, Goldschmidt had a .770 OPS.

Contreras, now 32, believes first base could extend his career, and it’s not a completely unknown position to him. He’s played 51⅓ innings there in the majors over 11 games. He’s turned five double plays. However, in the first homestand of this coming regular season, he’ll quickly triple his career complete games (two) at first.

It will take games for Contreras to get a real feel for the position, and manager Oliver Marmol said that is where the work being done now “will be tested and give him real comfort and real confidence there.� Until then, he’ll continue to meet regularly with Oquendo and Clapp.

“Slow process right now,� Contreras said. “I don’t want to do everything fast because then you lose the fundamentals of a first baseman. And they are making sure of my fundamentals — my glove position, my head position, my leg position — are really good.�

And then work on the decisions, on the reaction, on the recoveries, on timing.

It’s all about timing.

It’s all about putting in the time.

“Everything is a matter of time,� the first baseman said. “Everything.�