JUPITER, Fla. • Jose Oquendo, longtime Cardinals third-base coach and infield coach who will switch to instructing minor leaguers for much of this year, has been around the prospective Cardinals’ infield for several days before camp officially begins here. And he has seen enough.

“It’s going to be a huge difference having (Paul) Goldschmidt at first,” said Oquendo. “I’ve always said — and I said this to Albert (Pujols) when he moved down to first base — that for infielders to win Gold Gloves, your first baseman has to be a Gold Glove winner.”

By that, Oquendo meant that outstanding defensive first basemen save many errors that would have resulted from off-target throws by others. “For the infielders to be better, they’ve got to have a good first baseman,” said Oquendo.

“No matter all the new things about velocity and striking people out, you’ve got a catcher (Yadier Molina) who’s more into keeping the ball in play and getting the hitter out with one pitch instead of striking out with three pitches. That’s the way John Tudor and Danny Cox did it (when Oquendo played behind them in the 1980s). They’d say, ‘Here it is. Hit it.’

“The defense will be better that way. They’ll stay more engaged.”