PITTSBURGH — To boost offense and define their outfield as June begins, the Cardinals are taking a step back at their recent past and long-term future.
Jordan Walker, the Cardinals’ inaugural right field starter and their top contender, is expected to be recalled from the AAA Memphis class and join the Pittsburgh team, sources confirmed to the Post-Dispatch. He will join the active squad with another move on Thursday.
Walker, 21, hit a home run and two RBIs for the Triple-A Redbirds in Omaha Wednesday night. His home run covered 430 feet. In his last 15 games, he’s hit .264 with a .415 batting average, two home runs, eight RBIs and more of the results the Cardinals wanted to see when they sent him to the Minors on April 26.
A team official declined comment until Friday at PNC Park.
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Walker was not in the Redbirds’ lineup Thursday night.
“Our hope all along is to bring him back here,” said coach Oliver Marmol at Busch Stadium on Monday.
It was clear at the time that the Cardinals were having internal discussions about the timing of Walker’s return based on his performance improvement and encouraging scouting reports from Class AAA.
Walker, one of the top contenders in all of the minors, jumped straight from Class AA into the Cardinals’ opening roster with an impressive spring practice. With at least one goal in his first 12 games, he equaled a 111-year-old major league record for a player aged 20 or younger. After 20 games and two days in the cages with major league coaches, the Cardinals made the decision to send Walker to the AAA class in Memphis to work on his swing so he could utilize his natural strength, size and power. to generate more line drives, more extra base damage, and a 60.4% reduction in his groundball rate. (The league average is 42.6%.)
At the time of his demotion, he had a batting average of .274/.321/.397 and had as many hits (20) as strikeouts (20) while leading the Cardinals outfielders in several offensive categories.
The Cardinals sold the move as an attempt to streamline their outfield decisions, secure some regular playing time for some players, and also give Walker time in the minors to adjust his approach. The Cardinals have two of their planned starting outfielders on the injury list in Tyler O’Neill (lower back) and Dylan Carlson (ankle). Carlson is expected to begin a rehab assignment this week. O’Neill’s baseball schedule is yet to be determined.
Walker has seen an upsurge in its production, first going above and beyond default with expanded metrics and then pushing its way into games.
“I have a feeling it’s going to blow up more and more as the season progresses, like I did last year,” Walker said recently in Memphis while speaking with Post-Dispatch Baseball writer Daniel Guerrero. “So I just have to trust myself and have faith in how my momentum has been within the organization over the past three years. That is exactly what I believe in.”
Walker’s home run Wednesday night in the Redbirds’ 9-4 win in Omaha ran his bat at 109.4 mph, according to Statcast. He also had a single in play and was shooting his bat at 110.3 miles per hour and was the night’s hardest hit baseball at Triple-A level.
“This game is tough,” Walker said recently. “A couple of games, maybe four or five games (and) you don’t see results, you maybe change a few things that maybe work. It might just not go in the right direction. You really have to go back to what makes you.” You are good and you have to look inside yourself and see what makes you good and then go back to that. … It’s just a matter of figuring it out and just having the goals to achieve it.”
This story was originally published on Jun 1, 2023 at 7:20pm PDT.
Sports columnists Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon take a look at the Cardinals’ state of play in Cincinnati and wonder if Steven Matz would be better off as a backup going forward.
Ben Frederickson, Jeff Gordon, Gary Hairlson
The season-opener home game ended with a win over Atlanta and the Cardinals’ first real stress test—one long-predicted and the other completely unexpected. With the cars returned to their dealerships and the Clydesdales returned to their stable, the Cardinals put on a heavy, sustained offense as promised. Jordan Walker, the 20-year-old rookie, underscored his strong debut with his first MLB home run of his career. The Cardinals also had short, choppy, and chaotic starts in the rotation. The Cardinals embark on their first road trip of the season with a rotational ERA greater than 7.00. They conceded 42 hits, including five no-hit innings from Jack Flaherty. And that’s not the only question lurking. Manager Oliver Marmol questioned Tyler O’Neill’s performance on a crucial play that led to an out at the plate, and O’Neill was not in the lineup for the series finale against Atlanta. O’Neill defended himself, insisting it wasn’t due to a lack of rush and he was eager to prove otherwise. It’s not the first time Marmol has publicly questioned a player’s performance, but it’s the first time this season and earlier than ever, leading to a two-pronged test for the Cardinals: who will lead the rotation through turbulence and how will the clubhouse react to the O’Neill decision? St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson meets with baseball writer Derrick Goold at Busch Stadium to discuss. Baseball’s Best Podcast, sponsored by St. Louis-based Closets by Design, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com and Derrick Goold.
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