Nolan Arenado is back in the St. Louis Cardinals’ lineup after missing 40 games with a right shoulder injury.
The Cardinals activated the veteran third baseman prior to Monday’s game against the visiting Cincinnati Reds. He is batting sixth and playing at the hot corner.
Arenado played a four-game rehab stint for Double-A Springfield and went 1-for-13.
Arenado was struggling before the IL stint. He has not homered since June 21 and batted just .175 with two RBIs in July.
He has hit 30 or more home runs and driven in 100-plus runs seven times in his career.
The 34-year-old Arenado currently has career lows in batting average (.235), on-base percentage (.294), slugging percentage (.366) and OPS (.660). He has 10 homers and 43 RBIs in 96 games.
Arenado is an eight-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner. He played his first eight seasons with the Colorado Rockies (2013-20) before forcing his way out of Denver and being traded to St. Louis.
Arenado requested a trade from the Cardinals last offseason but used his no-trade clause to prevent the team from trading him to the Houston Astros. Both sides are expected to pursue a trade after this season.
Arenado has a .282 career batting average with 351 homers and 1,175 RBIs in 1,776 games.
St Louis optioned infielder Jose Fermin to Triple-A Memphis in a corresponding move.
Fermin, 26, batted .298 with one homer in 23 games for the Cardinals.
