One of the highest compliments for a baseball player is to say: “He’s a baseball player.”
See, not all baseball players are baseball players. To be honored with such a moniker, a baseball player must have a particular feel for it all — a young spirit but an old soul — and the ability to not only maximize ability, but also master the nuances of the game.
Such was a situation on Saturday. Dylan Carlson was leading off second base, Nolan Arenado at the plate. Arenado ripped a line drive, caught by the pitcher. But Carlson had the wherewithal to immediately dive back to the bag.
“A sneaky-good baseball play,” said Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, who brought up the play on his own during the postgame Zoom with reporters. “That’s a situation where a guy (usually) gets doubled off. He doesn’t. It allowed us to (later scores runs) because he did a pretty subtle, but very good, job at baserunning.”
Carlson is a baseball player. He makes the big plays and the little plays and, most importantly, the right plays. Saturday captured Carlson’s essence. He tallied two hits, reached base four times and scored three runs . . . and also wowed his manager with a baserunning play most onlookers overlooked.
After the series against the Colorado Rockies, the rookie is hitting .303. And with all of his qualities, a question worth asking is — why wasn’t he moved up in the lineup sooner?
Carlson clearly showed he could compete at this level during his first foray during the shortened 2020 season. Shildt stowed him lower in the lineup in 2021, keeping some of the pressure and responsibilities off Carlson’s shoulders — but this guy can shoulder the load. Or sure has shown that he can in this smaller sample size. This year, he has played in 16 games as the No. 2 hitter in the Cardinals’ lineup. Batting second, Carlson’s batting average is .344. His OPS is .798. His team is winning.
The Cards just played 17 games in 17 days and won 13 of them. With Tommy Edman leading off and No. 3 in the No. 2 spot, the Cardinals have two switch-hitters and two hungry and heady baseball players up there in the lineup.
“We have a great group of young players that is really exciting to watch,” said Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, who has seen his share of young players come through the system. “I mean, how fun is watching Tommy and Dylan get on base for those two boppers behind them? I don’t think we’ve had that complete of a lineup in a while. It reminds me kind of our ’13 team and our ’14 team where we just had a lot of different ways we can beat you. And now we got some speed, too, which is something I don’t think we’ve had in quite a long time. To have that many guys who can steal a base and go first to third and play great defensive in the field” is impressive.
Just how much of an impact does Carlson have on the Cardinals? In games in which he has scored a run, the team is 14-4. And when he comes to bat with runners on base, Carlson is hitting .388 — that’s ninth-highest in Major League Baseball of all qualified players.
As for the National League Rookie of the Year, the outfielder might very well become the seventh winner to have worn the birds on the bat (Albert Pujols, Todd Worrell, Vince Coleman, Bake McBride, Bill Virdon and Wally Moon, for those wondering).
Consider that among qualified NL rookies, Carlson is first in runs (23) and second in batting average (.303), WAR (0.9), RBIs (18) — and that’s behind three separate players. It’s early. Miami has two scintillating rookies in Trevor Rogers and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Pittsburgh prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes likely will return from the injury list in early June. But here’s thinking Carlson will be in the conversation all summer long.
The kid enters Tuesday’s game on a seven-game hitting streak. And while some of his hits have come from the right side, the prettiest have been the product of his lefthanded swing. On Sunday, he whooshed one through the zone for just a beautiful opposite-field line drive single.
But because Carlson is a baseball player, it wasn’t just the hit that stood out, but his approach to the entire at-bat. He fell behind in the count twice, but battled back to 2-2. The Colorado hurlers had been pitching particularly inside to Carlson, and a 2-2 offering sailed 96 mph toward his legs. The lefty hitter avoided the pitch . . . then ripped the next one to left.
“He’s impressed me since we saw him in spring training four years ago — and he continues to impress,” Shildt said. “He’s good player, you know? They tried to move his feet a little bit in the series, and he stayed right in there, took good swings, drove the ball through the middle and the other way. Took good at-bats, a nice stroke, and did a nice job. He’s good player who can beat you a lot of different ways. . . .
“He has a good feel for the game — that’s one of the things we noticed about him initially. He’s a guy who represents a lot of our younger players — he just wants to be the best a version (of himself) as he can. And he is hungry to get better. He takes advantage of not only his own experiences every day to be better, but others’ experiences as well. He’s paid attention to the game and that’s what you get — a guy that has ability, who is conscious about being a good player.”
And not just any player. A baseball player.
