Carlson hits grand slam in pursuit of regaining starting OF job

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- After all Dylan Carlson has been through in the past year and a half -- the 2022 wrist injury that sapped his gap-to-gap power, the systematic stripping away of his starting outfield spot and the ankle injury that prematurely ended his 2023 season -- he knows that being in the Dodger Stadium outfield on Opening Day is going to feel sweeter than ever.

Already one of the Cards’ top performers this spring with his improved left-handed swing, Carlson took another major step toward locking up an Opening Day starting slot Wednesday with an opposite-field grand slam and a single in the Cardinals’ 13-4 win vs. the Nationals.

When he is eventually tabbed as a starter for a club in desperate need of his production with Tommy Edman (offseason right wrist surgery) and Lars Nootbaar (two rib fractures) out, Carlson said it will come as confirmation of what he’s always thought of himself. A first-round Draft pick in 2016, formerly the top Cardinals’ prospect and a starter for most of the time from 2020-22, Carlson long thought of himself as a player capable of being a key contributor again. Now in possession of a left-handed stroke that features much more “intent,” Carlson has put himself in position to regain what was once lost.

“That’s the goal and that’s always been the goal,” Carlson said of doing what it takes to regain a starting spot with the Cards. “Some of that stuff is out of my control, and it always has been. All that I can do is put myself in the best position to compete.

“I think I’ve done it before in the big leagues, so I don’t think it would be a crazy stretch by any means to say that [I can be an everyday starter again]. … Obviously, things haven’t gone my way in the past, but we’re just looking forward and trying to continue to build.”

To earn a starting slot, Carlson has had to hold off a hard charge from electrifying prospect Victor Scott II, who showed again on Wednesday that he might be MLB ready even though he’s never spent a day at Triple-A. Scott, who won a Gold Glove in the Minor Leagues last season, made the catch of Spring Training by going up above the wall to take a home run away from Washington’s CJ Abrams.

“That [Scott] catch was unreal,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “The timing of it, how quickly he got to the wall to time it up, and there was a calmness to it. You were like, ‘He’s going to come up with this’ before the play even happened.”

Before Carlson’s grand slam highlighted a seven-run fourth inning on Wednesday, Marmol had a feeling that the outfielder might do something special. Carlson’s swings in the first were further proof that he was swinging with the kind of intent the Cardinals tasked him with finding over the offseason.

“There came a point at the end of last season and going into this offseason where he really made it a point to change the intent of his swing and to swing harder,” Marmol said. “The only way to learn how to drive fast is to drive fast, so he’s in the cage and he’s letting it eat. It’s what we’re starting to see and it’s nice to watch.”

The changes to Carlson’s swing came after his production lagged in 2022 and plummeted in 2023 from the left side. The son of legendary California high school coach Jeff Carlson, Dylan has been a switch-hitter since he was strong enough to hold a bat upright. Ironically, he zipped through the Cardinals’ Minor League system as a much more dynamic hitter from the left side of the plate than the right.

Last season, however, Carlson bottomed out while batting lefty with him hitting .196 and a .592 OPS. Factoring into the equation, of course, was the high ankle sprain he suffered in May, one that ultimately needed surgery.

Carlson worked throughout the winter in Scottsdale, Ariz., doing ankle exercises most mornings and hitting in the afternoons. The focus, he said, was getting back to being the kind of player who can do dynamic damage.

“[Intent] was a word I came into spring telling [Marmol] to hold me accountable to,” he said. “The goal was to keep building off what I had been working on because, in my opinion, that had been taking me in the direction I want to go. Intent means sticking to the plan, committing to it and having the intent to hit the ball hard.”