The St. Louis Cardinals will return home on Monday after playing six games away against the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox.
However, one Cardinals player will also be going back to a place they know well.
With Jack Flaherty on the mound, catcher Willson Contreras, who many people were surprised to learn had been exclusively employed as a designated hitter for the previous few weeks, will switch back to the catcher position.
The recent experiment coming to an end and Contreras ultimately returning to the catcher position were both announced on Twitter by The Athletic’s Katie Woo, who covers the Cardinals.
Willson Contreras will catch Jack Flaherty on Monday. #STLCards
Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) May 13, 2023
This circumstance has undoubtedly been peculiar.
To put it mildly, the Cardinals’ starting pitching has been awful.
However, it appeared as though the Cardinals were trying to use Contreras as a scapegoat for their pitching staff’s problems by shifting him to designated hitter.
Additionally, the team gave the impression that this trial would go on for a few weeks.
The Cardinals now seem to have changed their minds and decided to call it quits on this strange experiment.
This implies that starting on Monday, Contreras will be back at the plate.
The Cardinals just called up Tres Barrera from Triple-A Memphis and have been using Contreras as a DH and backup catcher Andrew Knizner as the starting catcher.
The Cardinals have already won two straight series, and they intend to keep it going when the Brewers visit.