NEW YORK — Speaking from the visiting manager’s office at Yankee Stadium on Friday afternoon, St. Louis Cardinals skipper Oli Marmol emphasized his beliefs about Jordan Walker’s potential, despite the 22-year-old spending most of the 2024 season in Triple A.
“I want to be super clear when I say this,” Marmol said. “I think Jordan Walker has a chance to be a real game-changing, impact player for a very long time for this organization. In order to do that, he’s going to need the at-bats. He’s also going to need some real adjustments throughout those at-bats for him to become that player. I do have confidence in his ability to do that.”
The good news for Walker is that he will again have the opportunity to play every day in the majors. Ahead of their series opener against the New York Yankees, the Cardinals recalled Walker from Triple-A Memphis. To make room on the active roster, St. Louis designated Tommy Pham for assignment one day after placing him on waivers. Unlike when Walker was recalled earlier in August, he will not be used as a platoon player. Marmol will start Walker every day regardless of the opposing pitcher.
“He will play every day,” Marmol said. “We look forward to seeing it. He’s going to have a run of games.”
Roster Move: OF Jordan Walker has been recalled from Memphis (AAA).
OF Tommy Pham has been designated for assignment. pic.twitter.com/dMCRXNpW2f
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 30, 2024
Why did Walker’s usage plan change over two weeks? When the Cardinals initially recalled Walker on Aug. 12, they did so intending to start him against left-handed pitchers. They cited a critical stretch of games over the incoming week where the team was slated to face of slew of left-handed starting pitchers. With St. Louis one of the worst teams in baseball against left-handed pitching, the club decided bringing Walker up to platoon for a week would not hamper his long-term development and also gave them the best shot at competing in those games. The Cardinals then went 1-5 in their next six games. Walker went 1-for-11 and was optioned back to Memphis once the week was over.
“At the time, (calling up Walker) was just trying to quickly fill a void,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said at the time of Walker’s demotions. “You know my philosophy has always been if you’re a young player, you need to be playing. I always cringe at the idea of someone who’s 22 years old sitting on the bench.”
A variety of roster changes over the past 10 days paved the way for consistent playing time for Walker, but the Cardinals’ decision to place Pham on waivers Thursday ultimately opened the door. Making Pham available on waivers was a topic that had come up multiple times between both the player and the team over the past week. The Cardinals were not deviating from their strategy of using Pham as a platoon bat, and Pham — who wants to play in 2025 — wanted to go to a team where he would see more consistent playing time. After several days of contemplating, Mozeliak opted to place Pham on waivers Thursday, the final day to ensure Pham would be eligible for the postseason should he be picked up by another organization. A player remains on his current club’s active roster when placed on waivers; designating Pham for assignment does not change his position on waivers, but it does immediately remove him from the Cardinals roster.
Nolan Gorman’s demotion to Memphis last week also played into the decision. Moving Brendan Donovan from left field to second base opened up a corner outfield spot. Lars Nootbaar can move to left field, which creates room for Walker in right field where he feels the most comfortable defensively. The Cardinals can also continue using Luken Baker as their right-handed bat off the bench. The Cardinals gave a slumping Gorman an extended run to find his footing. Now they’ll focus on giving Walker a shot.
The hope for Walker is that he can continue building off his recently established success in the minors at the big-league level. After slumping through the first half — where he was working diligently on multiple swing and approach changes — Walker posted a strong August for Memphis, registering a .312 average and .888 OPS with three home runs and five doubles.
Walker smash pic.twitter.com/ghJY1n77GI
— Memphis Redbirds (@memphisredbirds) August 28, 2024
“Giving (Walker) this run is important,” Marmol said. “We do need him to be the player that we think he’s capable of being as we go into the end of this (season) and the beginning of next year.”
The Cardinals will evaluate Walker off both his production and his swing adjustments. Similar to when they first optioned him at the beginning of the season, they’d like to see him increase his line-drive rate and lay off pitches down and out of the zone. When Walker is at his most effective, he is hitting the ball hard and in the air. How consistently he’s doing that — even if the batted ball doesn’t lead to box score production — will be an early tell as to whether he’s on the right track.
“Development takes time,” Marmol said. “There are phases to it, there are ups and downs to development, but as long as you’re headed in the right direction — as far as the adjustments that need to be made and the intentionality of those. … Whether they carry over immediately in a game, that’s the unpredictability of what we do. But the work is headed in that direction.”
Six games out of the wild-card picture with 28 games remaining before Friday’s contest, the Cardinals’ playoff odds are slim but not zero. Their trade for Pham did not pan out as expected. The silver lining to that is the new opportunity they have with Walker, which will help define expectations both for the remainder of this season and heading into 2025.
(Photo: Orlando Ramirez / USA Today)
