Former Cardinals making noise—for good reasons and for very bad ones—in early days of spring training

Friday was a tale of two former Cardinals making decidedly different types of noise at their respective spring trainings with new clubs.

A pair of 2025 Cardinal veterans got into the action on Friday as Miles Mikolas threw a live batting practice at Nationals camp, while Nolan Arenado played in his first Cactus League game as a member of the D-backs.

Both stories include home runs.

For his first live batting practice with Washington—wherein the pitcher is earnestly trying to get the hitter out, and the hitter is actively looking to do damage against his teammate—Mikolas served up a home run to Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews.

According to Ryan Shenker, who provided video evidence of the moment, Mikolas proceeded to allow another homer to Abi Ortiz before giving up solid batted balls—deemed doubles by Shenker, though it should be noted that the hitters don't actually run the bases during live BP—to James Wood and Crews to follow.

Mikolas allowed a career-high 29 home runs for the Cardinals last season, pitching to a 4.84 ERA in 31 starts. He recently signed a contract to continue his career with Washington, where manager Blake Butera recently stated his belief that Mikolas is "extremely motivated" heading into his age-37 season.

In a more favorable result for a former Cardinal, Arenado launched a home run in his first Cactus League at-bat--and he happened to be facing the Rockies, his former club.

Arenado's motivation to revitalize his career after a disappointing end to his time in St. Louis appears to have a little more substance behind it, at least in the early days of spring training.