Turning the page on '24, Gorman hopes to rewrite fortunes

JUPITER, Fla. -- To try and process the immense frustration he felt in a season where his strikeout rate ballooned to an almost unthinkable rate and he was ultimately demoted to Triple-A Memphis, Cardinals slugger Nolan Gorman put pen to paper and let his emotions flow out into a journal that was reserved for his eyes only.

Little soothed Gorman’s tortured thoughts during a rocky 2024 season, in which he struck out 151 times in 365 at-bats, but journaling at least kept him from bottling up his emotions. It also gave him a finite time to vent, and then he was forced to move on to the next night’s game. Slapping that journal shut brought at least a few minutes of peace to the chaos Gorman was feeling during a season that started off badly and somehow got even worse until he was mercifully demoted on Aug. 21.

“I’ll either do it at the field or right when I get home, but for me, it’s a trigger to know that once that notebook is closed and I’m done writing everything down, and it’s over,” Gorman said of the habit of journaling his daily thoughts. “Then, I have to turn into a husband and turn it off. It’s never completely off, but closing that journal and knowing that whatever happened today -- good or bad -- is over helps. It’s about realizing then that the next day is more important.”

Similarly, the 24-year-old Gorman has looked ahead to the 2025 season as a new chance to reestablish himself as one of MLB’s best young sluggers. Gorman seemed to be firmly on track when he hit a team-high 27 home runs in 2023, but his offense was lacking last season when more pitchers started attacking him with fastballs up in the zone.

When Gorman’s strikeout rate swelled to 37.6 percent last season, the Cardinals sent him to Memphis to try and regain the swing that helped him become the organization’s top prospect just three years earlier. Rather than look at it as a demotion, Gorman embraced the opportunity to take a step back and really study his swing. Though his .205 batting average in 23 games with Memphis might suggest otherwise, Gorman came away from that experience feeling as if he had figured things out. His seven homers and four doubles spoke to the quality of contact he was making after breaking down his swing far away from the white-hot glare of the Majors.

“I think everything kind of happens for a reason, right?” said Gorman, who still had 19 homers and 15 doubles with the Cardinals last season. “Getting sent down might have been the best thing for me. What I did in Memphis was actually pretty good. I know the regular stat line wasn’t very good, but I was consistently on the barrel. There was a consistent period where I felt like I was back on my game.”

That’s certainly what the Cardinals would like to see in the season ahead with them committed to giving young players such as Masyn Winn, Jordan Walker, Thomas Saggese and Gorman extensive chances to prove themselves. The Cardinals' inability to trade 10-time Gold Glove winner Nolan Arenado complicates things a bit for Gorman -- he will likely split his time between second base and DH instead of playing third -- but the club is still hopeful of getting him 550-600 at-bats this season. Already, the Cards are excited with the early changes they have seen.

“It’s more a combination of mechanics and the approach with that pitch at the top of the zone and him being able to ride it out with the barrel,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “That’s things he’s worked on really hard with [new Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown]. As we get further into camp, and into games, he’ll be able to test that out.”

Gorman got a jump on Spring Training by working almost daily with Brown, a fellow Arizona resident in the offseason. After the Cardinals hired Brown, he and Gorman realized that they lived a matter of streets apart and they were able to spend loads of quality time together talking hitting.

A big chunk of Gorman’s offseason was also dedicated to his marriage to long-time girlfriend Madison Rivers in a New Year’s Eve ceremony in suburban Phoenix. When he isn’t journaling about baseball, Gorman said Madison has proven to be the perfect sounding board for his thoughts on regaining his swing.

“She’s been the biggest supporter since we got together,” Gorman said. “She’s been a rock for me. She lets me talk and vent and doesn’t get too mad at me.”