51黑料

JUPITER, Fla. 鈥� Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas brings a high level of bravado and confidence with him into every season. Even if his swagger ever wavered, you couldn鈥檛 tell because even a reduced level still soars above most people strolling the earth.

That swagger should serve him well as he enters a season of uncertainty as a veteran starting pitcher on a club that has entered a phase the front office has described as a 鈥渢ransition.鈥� Well, a 鈥渞eset鈥� and then a 鈥渢ransition.鈥� Er, whatever it is when you start to rebuild but you still have a group of veterans on the roster.

鈥淚鈥檓 trying not to be too far-sighted,鈥� Mikolas said of going into this season with free agency awaiting in the winter and the trade deadline looming this summer. 鈥淚f I worry about something in July, how can I worry about my next start in five or six days?鈥�

Whether it鈥檚 wearing a cowboy hat and boots to strut out of the clubhouse on the road, publicly decrying the Los Angeles Dodgers as playing 鈥渃heckbook baseball鈥� prior to last season, being the first player to hit the top step and bark at an opposing team when a Cardinals hitter has gotten decked by a pitch thrown up and in, or brazenly throwing at Cubs slugger Ian Happ on consecutive pitches after Happ鈥檚 backswing knocked catcher Willson Contreras out of a game in 2023, Mikolas hasn鈥檛 shied away from ruffling feathers.

He seems to like it. Heck, one time while teammates had a mixed martial arts fight on the television in the clubhouse a couple of seasons ago, Mikolas cracked about hypothetically being able to take everyone in the clubhouse in a fight. It prompted his then-teammate Adam Wainwright to stop what he was doing and comment about Mikolas obviously not lacking confidence.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Mikolas hasn鈥檛 lost any of the tough-guy persona. In the fifth inning of his spring training start against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday, Mikolas took a ball hit back up the middle off the inside of his left leg. The ball came off the bat with an exit velocity of 106 mph.

In true Mikolas style, he brushed off the notion of injury after the game.

鈥淚t鈥檚 fine, tis but a scratch,鈥� Mikolas said.

Mikolas tossed six innings in the outing, his fifth start of Grapefruit League play.

Coming off back-to-back subpar seasons, Mikolas still has his typical level of confidence in his ability as well as a bit of defiance about the club鈥檚 perceived inability to compete with so many young, unproven players in everyday roles.

Mikolas, 36, becomes a free agent after this season. That expiring contract could make him a trade candidate this summer.

鈥淚f I have my way, the Cardinals would be playing great baseball by then and we鈥檙e adding guys instead of getting rid of them,鈥� Mikolas said recently. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the goal, to be in the mix for a playoff run ourselves and not worry about anything other than that.鈥�

The past two seasons since he signed a two-year contract extension with the Cardinals, Mikolas went 19-24 with a 5.04 ERA with a 1.29 WHIP, 10.1 hits per nine innings and 6.2 strikeouts per nine innings in 67 starts.

From 2018 through 2022, Mikolas earned two All-Star appearances for the Cardinals and posted a record of 41-34 with a 3.46 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP with 8.4 hits per nine innings and 6.8 strikeouts per nine innings in 106 games (105 starts).

If you鈥檙e looking for a simplistic comparison of the things that started happening the past two years that weren鈥檛 happening those first four, here goes. Opponents made a lot more solid contact against him a lot more in 2023 and 2024 than in those previous seasons. Judge it by hard-hit percentage or expected batting average and expecting slugging percentage, barrel percentage or the old-school batting average and slugging percentage. They all tell the same tale.

Mikolas has put some stock in changing his pitch sequencing, getting out of patterns and pitching with purpose to set up hitters as keys to getting out of his recent downturn. Or as he put it, he needs to 鈥減lay chess, not checkers.鈥�

In 2018, after three consecutive seasons pitching in Japan, Mikolas went 18-4 with a 2.83 ERA and earned his first career All-Star selection.

Mikolas will enter this season having pitched 1,004鈪� innings and collected 60 wins and 733 strikeouts in 172 starts with the club. He started the past two season openers for the club, stepping in for Wainwright in 2023 and Sonny Gray in 2024.

A workhorse innings eater, he鈥檚 not showing any signs of getting overly sentimental about the possibility of this being his last year wearing the birds on the bat across his chest.

When asked about his desire to get back to his previous form, Mikolas referenced that 2018 season and said, 鈥淚 am aware that this is a contract year for me going into free agency. Another All-Star appearance or 18 wins would go a long way. My agent would be super-happy with that.鈥�

Mikolas spoke with reporters in front of his locker in the major league clubhouse in the spring training facility.

Just as he made the comment about his agent being happy, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol walked past the scrum of reporters and chimed in with a big grin and said, 鈥淎nd your manager.鈥�

鈥淵eah, and my manager would be super-happy with that,鈥� Mikolas continued. 鈥淎nd I鈥檓 a people pleaser. I鈥檓 trying to make everybody happy, the fans, the coaches, everybody.鈥�