BALTIMORE -- Cardinals infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan doesn’t do much of anything without intricately planning it out first and working tirelessly on its execution before ever implementing it into games.
Clearly, the 28-year-old Donovan is a man with a plan in terms of what kind of hitter he wanted to become this season while batting in the middle of the order for the Cardinals.
Donovan not only leads the National League in doubles with 18, but he’s on pace to hit more two-baggers than legendary lefty Stan Musial did in 1953 (53) and Matt Carpenter in 2013 (55) -- the lefty leaders in Cardinals’ history. (Hall of Famer Joe Medwick had 64 doubles in 1936 for the club record.)
Donovan’s doubles, of course, are no accident. He got to this point by carefully studying the geometry of baseball and the physics of Busch Stadium before setting out on a course of being more of a gap-to-gap hitter.
“I didn’t realize how important math would be now,” Donovan joked on Monday after the Cardinals’ 5-2 loss to the Orioles.
Whereas most hitters step into the box and swing recklessly in hopes of driving balls, Donovan thinks specifically about where he wants to hit baseballs when they are pitched low and away or on the inner half. Not only that, but Donovan knows precisely which angles result in balls that get between outfielders for extra-base hits.
“I think it’s just about being diligent with the angles I am hitting the ball,” said Donovan, who also admitted that the difficulty of driving balls at Busch Stadium influenced his pursuit of doubles over homers. “We have so many things to track balls in our cages, so knowing what angles perform the best for me off my batted-ball profile, I practice my shots.
“Low [fastball] away, I’m focusing on hitting the ball over shortstop. This [inside] breaking ball, I’ll catch out front and tend to pull it in the air. Well, work on hitting it lower this way or higher this way.”
What Donovan is doing is clearly working as he has been one of the driving forces behind a Cardinals club that came into Monday having gone 16-4 since May 4. The Cardinals offense had been so good during that run that they had outscored foes 104-57 during that 20-game stretch.
Donovan has been one of the game’s most consistent hitters all season. He came into Monday first in the NL in doubles, first in three-hit games (nine), tied for first in hits (65) and second in batting average (.328). Of late, his productivity has been off the charts with him going 17-for-40 (.425) with five doubles, eight runs scored and five three-hit games over a 10-game stretch before Monday.
His 18th double of 2025 -- an inside-out shot perfectly drilled into the left-center-field gap -- came in his 200th at-bat of the season. To put that into perspective, Carpenter didn’t reach 17 doubles until May 30, 2013 … in his 200th at-bat.
“He’s not trying to do too much and because of that he’s getting a high level of production out of it,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He’s staying on balls and going the other way, and he knows when to take his shots. He’s becoming more of a smart hitter and knows when to do what and he’s being rewarded for it.”
Donovan, who became the first rookie in the rich history of the Cardinals to win a Gold Glove in 2022, had a rare defensive faux pas in the fourth inning. To try and get the lead runner, Donovan fielded a slow roller and threw to second -- only to see it hit Ryan O’Hearn in the helmet as he was sliding.
Not only was it Donovan’s first error of the season, it also was his first botched defensive play in 89 games, dating to Aug. 14, 2024. Last season, when he was coming off elbow surgery, Donovan played 105 games in left field, 53 at second base, nine at third and one in right field, and was a finalist for an NL Gold Glove. This season, he’s split his time between second (40), left (12) and shortstop (six).
Like with his formulated plan at the plate, Donovan said he will take Monday’s throwing error and factor it into future plays.
“Me as a player, I feel like I can make every play, so I don’t regret it and I can learn from it,” he said. “Shoulda, coulda, woulda, but I need to realize that I had a thin margin and just take the out at first.”