Huge improvements from Jordan Walker have helped the Cardinals lead all teams in OAA.
It was the eighth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals clung to a 1-0 lead against the Royals. With runners on first and second, no outs. Kansas City’s Jonathan India squared to bunt on the first two pitches. His intention was clear: move the runners into scoring position.
Many first basemen would stand further back and give themselves time to react. Willson Contreras, though? He charged up the first baseline hard and stationed himself just 51 feet away, practically daring India to swing away. He was a bunt scarecrow, standing so close it seemed reckless—so close that even his teammates took notice.
Nolan Arenado told him to scoot back. Miles Mikolas feared India might take a swing and kill him. Lars Nootbaar, watching from the outfield, called him a savage.
Multiple coaches told Contreras to move back in real time. Multiple teammates were in disbelief he was that close.
Contreras on the other hand: “I don’t care. I’m not afraid. If I’m gonna die, I’ll die right there.” https://t.co/Mcuuy7m1q2
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) May 18, 2025
Maybe I am being a little dramatic in how I described the moment, but I did that because I wanted to highlight something. To me, this defensive positioning and the quote from Contreras afterward is a moment that defined the Cardinals’ defensive mentality in 2025—fearless, aggressive, and unrelenting.
It is the foundation of the best defense in Major League Baseball.
And that isn’t just my opinion. The numbers back it up. This season the Cardinals lead all of Major League Baseball in Outs Above Average (OAA) with 28 OAA through just 47 games. That is 10 more than the next-best team, the Houston Astros, who have 18 OAA. In 2024, the Cardinals finished the entire season with 15 OAA, ranking eighth in MLB. This isn’t just one player’s contributions —it’s a team-wide transformation. It is pretty remarkable when you consider this is largely the same roster as 2024. Before we explore how they did this and what this means, let’s go over what OAA is.
OAA is a range-based defensive metric that evaluates how many outs a fielder has saved compared to an average player at their position. It accounts for difficulty of plays, positioning, and reaction time, making it one of the most comprehensive measures of defensive performance. The OAA of an average player is, by definition, zero. Outs Above Average is a relative metric, meaning it compares a player’s ability to make plays against the league-average defender at their position.
A positive OAA means a player is making more outs than expected.
A negative OAA means a player is allowing more balls to drop in for hits than expected.
Zero OAA means the player is performing exactly at league-average defensively.
There are few players for the Cardinals driving this dramatic increase this season. Gabe goes over them in detail here, but here is my summary of the biggest climbers:
Jordan Walker (RF) – 2024: -14 OAA → 2025: +4 OAA
Victor Scott II (CF) – 2024: 3 OAA → 2025: +5 OAA
Willson Contreras (1B) – 2024: N/A (Catcher) → 2025: +3 OAA
Masyn Winn (SS) – 2024: +3 OAA → 2025: +6 OAA
Jordan Walker seems to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting on this. He has had the most dramatic improvements going from a defensive liability to ranking second among NL right fielders in OAA. His improved reads and positioning have been game-changers. It would be one of the most significant improvements a player has made in a year without making a position change — at least that I can see.
The natural next question is how did Walker go from one of the worst defenders in right field per OAA to just slightly above a average? Reportedly it’s largely due to just plain ol’ hard work: offseason adjustments, coaching changes, and his own dedication to improving his reads and positioning.
In previous seasons, as he learned the position at the major league level, Walker struggled with poor first steps and inefficient routes to balls. Going into 2025 it was reported that Walker was working under the guidance of Jon Jay, who replaced Willie McGee as the Cardinals’ outfield coach. As a player, Jay was often praised for his ability to read the ball off the bat. He was not someone with remarkable speed to overcome bad routes or bad jumps. Under his tutelage, Walker, who some might consider more naturally athletic than Jay was and can make up for some imperfect reads, has dramatically improved his reaction time and angles. Again, the numbers bore this out:
2024 Reaction Time: 1.2 feet below league average
2025 Reaction Time: 0.4 feet above league average
2024 Burst (first 1.5 seconds of movement): 0.8 feet below league average
2025 Burst: 0.6 feet above league average
2024 Overall Efficiency: Ranked bottom 10% of MLB outfielders
2025 Overall Efficiency: Ranked top 30% of MLB outfielders
This means Walker is getting better jumps on balls, reacting faster, and taking more efficient routes—all of which contribute to his improvement in Outs Above Average (OAA).
The question on all of our minds now is what does this mean for the St. Louis Cardinals? The answering is surprisingly simple: fewer runs allowed = more wins. The Cardinals are turning more balls in play into outs, reducing opponents’ scoring opportunities. But even more than that, it is reducing stress on the pitching staff. When a defense consistently converts difficult plays into outs, pitchers face fewer extended innings and fewer baserunners, reducing their workload. Cardinals starters are averaging 0.75 fewer pitches per inning compared to 2024—perhaps better defense is helping them get through games a little more efficiently. The Cardinals’ team BABIP allowed has dropped from .302 in 2024 to .284 in 2025, meaning opponents are finding fewer holes against them which has reduced the team ERA from 4.08 in 2024 to 3.67 in 2025.
Defense has long been a part of the St. Louis Cardinals legacy. It is a facet of the game that has been notably absent from the team in recent years. It is probably no coincidence that the season they are finding more success coincides with them getting back to their roots, so to speak. This team-wide transformation has turned them into the best defensive unit in Major League Baseball, and its impact goes beyond web gems (though those are fun). It’s limiting runs, easing pressure on the pitching staff, and helping the Cardinals turn tight games into victories — games in past few seasons they always seemed to lose. As the season unfolds, one thing is clear, at least to me: The Cardinals are not just winning with defense. They’re winning because of it.
Happy Sunday!
*All my stats are as of 5/20/2025 and may be slightly out of date at the time of publishing