How Much Should Cardinals Fans Be Concerned With Willson Contreras' Slump?

The St. Louis Cardinals currently have one of the league's most prolific offenses but not every player in their red-hot lineup is heating up.

Cardinals three-time All-Star Willson Contreras has looked like a shell of his former self at the plate to start his 2025 campaign -- batting .145 with 10 hits, four extra-base hits including one home run, seven RBIs and a .424 OPS in 69 at-bats across 17 games played for St. Louis.

To see Contreras underperform offensively is concerning for St. Louis fans but how worried should Cardinals nation be regarding the fan favorite's lackluster campaign so far this season?

"Willson Contreras showed signs of life over the weekend, collecting two hits on Saturday and Sunday and his first homer of the season during the latter," Bleacher Report's Zachary. D Rymer wrote Tuesday when writing about players who are currently in a slump. "Even still, he's just 10-for-61 on the season. And this is his first campaign as a full-time first baseman, where the pressure to produce at the plate is much higher than it is for his old haunt at catcher. At 76.1 mph, Contreras' average bat speed remains elite. And as such, it's likely just a matter of time before he reverses the 4.8 mph drop in his average exit velocity."

Contreras began using the New York Yankees torpedo bat before Sunday's series finale victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, during which he logged his first home run of the year and went two-for-four with a double and two RBIs. For now, it seems that he'll continue using the controversial stick.

"The bigger concern is a strikeout rate that has skyrocketed from an already high 26.8 percent in 2024 to an even higher 33.3 percent in 2025," Rymer continued. "This is partially self-inflicted by way of a huge increase in his chase rate. This is potentially correctable so long as Contreras or the Cardinals get wise to the new scouting report on him. He's simply not getting fastballs to hit, so he needs to tighten things up with his approach. Concern Meter: Medium."

Hopefully, Contreras' hitting slump won't last much longer. Luckily, the Cardinals offense is doing fine witout him -- ranking third in runs scored (94) and OPS (.783), second in hits (180) and first in batting average (.280).

If Contreras can get over his hitting slump, St. Louis' offense could legitimately become the league's most productive offense, as long as the rest of the lineup, led by Brendan Donovan and Nolan Arenado, continues to produce.

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