Willson Contreras Already Winning Over Cardinals Fans With Latest Offseason Decision

Willson Contreras has big shoes to fill with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2023. He's succeeding a future Hall-of-Fame catcher, and the Cardinals paid him handsomely to do so, which automatically comes with high expectations.

Well, it's safe to say Contreras is doing everything right to begin his Cardinals tenure.

Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports the All-Star catcher will not play for Venezuela in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Instead, Contreras is solely focused on getting in a full camp with his new club ahead of the 2023 season.

This is a significant decision by Contreras, and one that will certainly win over fans in St. Louis. It speaks volumes that the talented catcher would pass on a chance to represent his home country in a major tournament to make sure he doesn't miss any time with his new teammates in Spring Training.

Contreras' choice just shows he committed he is to being a worthy successor to Yadier Molina. Taking every opportunity he has to build chemistry with his new pitching staff before the season could pay huge dividends once the Cardinals are in the thick of a new year, so this is a commendable sacrifice from the marquee free-agent signing.

Isaiah De Los Santos is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Isaiah De Los Santos also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zayyy05328. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. 

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