The St. Louis Cardinals have been bit hard by the injury bug this spring but their second baseman, Nolan Gorman, has great news thanks to a quirky discovery with his favorite snack.
Gorman loves his popcorn and dedicated his offseason to being healthier. He learned that switching popcorn brands from one that used peanut oil to others that use coconut oil has helped cure his severe back pain. That change along with a couple of others led him to drop eight pounds and play pain-free for the first time in three years.
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Per John Denton of MLB.com, there has barely been a mention of Gorman’s back troubles that have plagued him for so long and the 23-year-old believes it is because of his diet. He eliminated foods that caused inflammation and caused him to stiffen up in years past.
“Obviously, I spent the whole offseason making sure that wouldn’t happen,” Gorman said of there being no mention of his previous back injury. “I didn’t want to come in here to Spring Training and have to worry about it, or really even talk about it. Like I’ve said, I took care of my back in every way that I needed to this offseason.”
Denton wrote that Gorman is moving better than ever now and is batting in the lineup between Nolan Arrenado and Paul Goldschmidt which shows that St. Louis is confident that Gorman’s health was the only thing standing in his way of having a standout season.
He was limited to 119 games and 406 at-bats last season due to his back and a hamstring issue, but he still managed to hit a team-best 27 home runs. If that is what he can do in pain, imagine what can happen when he is pain-free.
Gorman has also improved his game against left-handed pitching. After making his big league debut in May 2022, he rarely played against lefties. Last season, he had 73 at-bats against Southpaws.
If #STLCards lefty Nolan Gorman can keep taking these kinds of swings vs. lefties, he can become an every-day player in ’24 — the club’s expectation.
Gorman ripped a 96.5 mph fastball from #Marlins LHP Ryan Weathers for an RBI double. It left Gorman’s bat at 108.3 mph. pic.twitter.com/w9tRmbo5J2
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) March 15, 2024
“He’s staying in there left-on-left really well, and he did last year as well,” manager Oliver Marmol said of Gorman, who drilled a fastball from Marlins lefty Ryan Weathers into right field for a 108.3 mph double on Friday. “Those were good swings, and he continues to do that really well. When you look at his overall production against lefties from last year, he’s showing that he’s more than capable of [being an everyday player].”
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