PHOENIX — The cheers were unmistakable when Cardinals second baseman Nolan Gorman was introduced before his first at-bat this weekend as a visiting slugger at Chase Field in Arizona.
The former standout at Sandra Day O’Connor High School, roughly a half-hour drive from the Arizona Diamondbacks’ home ballpark, also caused a modest roar from a group of fans with his first hit on Friday night.
“It feels good to be here,†Gorman said. “It feels good to play here. It’s cool — where I grew up — having all the friends and family out here that supported me throughout my career ever since I pretty much started playing. So I enjoy coming back here a lot.â€
Gorman went three for 13 in the series and now is hitting .217 this season.
This latest trip to Arizona coincided with Gorman and his longtime girlfriend, Madison Rivers, getting engaged. Gorman, 23, proposed on Thursday, a day off in Arizona before the series opener. The Arizona natives have known each other since elementary school.
People are also reading…
Gorman led his high school team to the school’s first 6A baseball state championship as a senior in 2018. That same year, the Cardinals selected him with the 19th pick in the MLB draft. He’d signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Arizona before he entered professional baseball.
A lot of close friends come to see him when the Cardinals come to Phoenix. Usually, his family and friends will get a section of seats together. This year, they were between the visiting dugout and the press box at Chase Field. Depending on the game, there often are others he knows also scattered throughout the crowd.
Gorman said he never played on the field as an amateur, either with his high school team or in travel ball. He’d attend games occasionally as a fan, but he wasn’t at the ballpark on a regular basis. As an aspiring big leaguer, Gorman followed the club, which was led by current Cardinal Paul Goldschmidt for a chunk of Gorman’s youth.
Gorman and Goldschmidt have batted back to back in the Cardinals’ lineup and have played beside each other in the field so far for most of this season, with Goldschmidt batting second and playing first base ahead of Gorman batting third and playing second base.
“Obviously, ‘Goldy’ was the face of this franchise for a long time,†Gorman said. “I always looked up to him and watched how he played, but I never had any specific guy that I looked up to. When I was watching that game, it was more watching everybody on the infield. Watching everybody hitting. Just how they went about things and seeing how they played the game.â€
Gorman’s first hit at Chase Field came as a pinch-hitter, a single when he batted for Albert Pujols in his first appearance in a major-league game in his home state.
Walker still working to lift ball
With the Cardinals trailing by two runs with two men on base in the eighth inning of Saturday night’s loss, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol pinch-hit for right-handed-hitting Jordan Walker and turned to left-handed-hitting Alec Burleson, who lined out to center field.
Diamondbacks right-handed reliever Ryan Thompson, a sidearm-style pitcher, entered the day with a ground-ball rate of 66.7% for the season after carrying a rate of 59% in 2023.
Walker’s ground-ball rate of 56.3% and the potential for a double play served as a driving force behind Marmol’s decision.
Walker, a rookie phenom a year ago, is now batting .178 and slugging .311 this season after striking out Sunday as a pinch-hitter in the Cardinals’ 5-0 loss.
Last season, the Cardinals stressed the need for Walker to decrease his ground ball frequency. During spring training, Walker acknowledged that he’d focused this offseason and during camp on not letting his backside collapse and driving the ball in the air more consistently to the gaps.
“He’s working hard at it,†Marmol said. “I’ve been able to have several conversations with him about it, (hitting coach) Turner (Ward) and him. That line of communication has been really good. It’s not a lack of work.
“He’s putting in a ton of work in trying to get to the point where he is keeping a strong position and able to get the ball off the ground and do the damage we know he’s capable of doing. But it’s a process.â€
Liberatore under the weather
The Cardinals were without Gorman’s longtime friend and former amateur teammate and foe Matthew Liberatore. A left-handed reliever and Arizona native, Liberatore did not appear in a game during the three-game series against the Diamondbacks.
He traveled with the team to Arizona, but he has not been at the ballpark because of illness. The plan is for Liberatore to meet the team in Oakland, where they’ll continue their six-game trip against the Athletics.
In six appearances this season (7 2/3 innings), Liberatore has posted a 3.52 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP.