JUPITER, Fla. -- In Nolan Arenado's mind, at least, whatever whispers there might be about his age affecting his ability morphed into an undeniable roar barking at him throughout this past offseason.

Part of him understands -- and appropriately beats himself up -- after his Gold Glove streak ended at 10 and his string of 30-homer, 100-RBI years came to a halt at seven non-COVID-shortened seasons.

All of it serves as fuel for a player with an inner fire that burns so white-hot that he often wears himself down. His offseason workout partner and closest friend on the team, Lars Nootbaar, has already noticed a difference in Arenado’s edginess and anticipation, saying “a motivated Nolan is a scary Nolan.”

Arenado is not only hitting Spring Training feeling as if he has something to prove; he’s planning on playing with the same sort of hunger and desperation of that young kid scrapping to make the Rockies roster in 2013.

“I just feel like I’ve got a little something to prove and it’s like the mindset I had in Colorado in my first few years where I was trying to establish myself,” said Arenado, following a 2023 where he was an All-Star, but hit just .266 and smacked his fewest homers (26) since 2014. “That’s how I came to this spring because I feel that way. … I do feel like I have something to prove again and that’s a good thing.”

That Arenado’s defensive decline, offensive struggles and his nagging back pain hit during a season when he turned 32 years old led to the natural speculation that age was finally catching up to the player who had hammered his body for years with diving stops, tarp collisions and twisting throws. To that end, Arenado went on the offensive to try and reverse some of the issues that cropped up in 2023.

He reported to the Cardinals complex noticeably leaner and down four pounds. He enrolled in Pilates classes in hopes of making his body what he called “more elastic.” He also went to work on his patented dead-pull swing, attempting to keep his arms away from his body more as his front foot loads. It would be far too simplistic, Arenado said, to point to just his age for some of the backsliding.

“As you get older in this game -- and with the year I had -- you get the, ‘He’s getting older,’ and that stuff bothers me because I don’t feel that way,” Arenado said. “Obviously, it’s harder to get loose, but I don’t think last year was because I was older; it was because I was wearing myself out physically. As long as I don’t do that, I don’t see why I can’t get back to what I did in ’22.”

Admittedly, Arenado can be his own worst enemy at times with how he grinds himself down when struggles hit. Teammates mock his practice swings on the team plane, and his wife chides him when he simulates a swing in the middle of one of her stories about their daughter. And when he struggled defensively early last season, he took ground balls to the point that it was counterproductive to his body and throwing arm.

Where Arenado does want to improve is with the kind of leader he is for the Cardinals. He was a driving force behind the squad adding veteran slugger Matt Carpenter, and he openly lauded the signings of starters Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. He feels at times the Cardinals had too much youth in 2023 and that was a contributing factor to the 71-91 finish.

“Our team was just all young guys, and I don’t mean this in a bad way, but they kind of overran the clubhouse and usually the veterans run the clubhouse,” he said. “I think if you want to get the best out of young guys, they’ve got to see how the veterans do it -- All-Stars and players that have done it before. … I know me and (Paul Goldschmidt) were there, but we’re not really vocal people, either.

“I've got to get away from the mindset that I have to play well [every night] to lead. I’ve talked to Goldy about that, and he shared that I don’t have to perform to be a leader because my resume speaks for itself. It’s hard when you’re losing because you want to be a reason that you’re fixing the problem and not part of the problem.”