Willson Contreras DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras hit his first home run of the 2025 season against the Philadelphia Phillies' ace, Zack Wheeler. The home run was a two-run shot in the fourth inning that opened up the scoring for the Cardinals and gave them a 2-0 lead. The Cardinals never looked back and walked away with the 7-0 win against the Phillies (9-6). On the afternoon, Contreras went 2-for-4 with the home run and a double. He is off to a slow start to begin his 2025 campaign, with a poor slash line of .158/.213/.263; however, Contreras is a career .256 hitter at the Major League level, so fantasy managers can expect him to pick it up as the season progresses. Up next for the Cardinals is a three-game series against the Houston Astros at home. Contreras will look to keep the hot bat going in that series.

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras is not in the starting nine on Friday when they begin a series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Contreras has had a slow start to the campaign and will be given the night off. Instead, Alec Burleson will cover first base and bat in the five-hole. Through the first 12 games of the campaign, Contreras has held an underwhelming .102/.170/.143 slash line with two doubles. However, he has tallied three hits over his last four games and has begun to slowly turn the corner. Fantasy managers should expect the 32-year-old to return to the starting nine on Saturday. He remains a must-start option despite his slump as he held a strong .262/.380/.468 line last summer. Burleson is worth a look in DFS facing Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola.

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras is 5-for-49 with 22 strikeouts to begin the season, but manager Oliver Marmol has elected to keep him at the top of the lineup in the early going, usually in the two-hole. The Athletic's Katie Woo writes that Marmol is weighing the possibility of moving Contreras down, though, given his slow start. The skipper prefers to switch between left-handed and right-handed hitters as much as possible in the lineup to make it difficult for opposing managers to game plan. Nolan Arenado is planted in the cleanup spot, and there are no other right-handed batters the Cardinals can use at the top of the order to break up lefties Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan. When catcher Ivan Herrera (knee) returns, he could be an option at No. 2. But until then, the Cardinals and fantasy managers are hoping Contreras can turn things around quickly at the plate.

St. Louis Cardinals catcher/first baseman Willson Contreras is out of the lineup on Tuesday for the first time this year against the visiting Los Angeles Angels at Busch Stadium. Catcher Ivan Herrera will also start on the bench, with Pedro Pages doing the catching for left-hander Matthew Liberatore and batting seventh against Angels right-hander Kyle Hendricks. It's a good time for Contreras to get off his feet for the first time this year, as the 32-year-old Venezuelan backstop is hitless with eight strikeouts in 19 plate appearances over his first four games in 2024. Alec Burleson is starting at first for the Cards and is batting second on Tuesday. Burleson will be the more popular DFS play for this matchup against the soft-tossing Hendricks, as Burleson has hit .429 with a 1.071 OPS in a small sample size of seven career at-bats against Hendricks.

St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak stated Wednesday that catcher Willson Contreras will be transitioned to a first base/designated hitter role in 2025. The hope is that the move will keep the 32-year-old healthy and allow him to extend the life of his career. The veteran backstop had a solid season for the time he was on the field in 2024, posting a .262-15-36-48-4 line with a .370 wOBA and 140 wRC+, but played in just 84 games due to varying injuries. He's expected to be ready to go for 2025, and the added positional flexibility should give him some additional value in fantasy leagues.