ST. LOUIS – The slumping St. Louis Cardinals, winless in eight of their last ten games with playoff hopes fading fast, have optioned young hitters Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman to the minor leagues on back-to-back days.
In a rapid roster reshuffle, the Cardinals have also promoted infielders Luken Baker and José Fermín from Triple-A Memphis, while activating one veteran (Matt Carpenter) and releasing another (Brandon Crawford).
The Cardinals are scrambling to salvage a 2024 that’s quickly slipping away, and it appears Walker and Gorman will be away from the big-league squad for the immediate future.
Their demotions, however, come with different fates of late.
Walker spent just one week with the big-league club in his most recent promotion and has spent much of the 2024 season at Triple-A. Gorman had spent the whole season at the big-league level up to Wednesday, though his opportunities and production have dipped in recent weeks.
Walker enjoyed a nice run of success at Memphis before his Aug. 11 call-up, hitting .348 at the Triple-A level in August and with more authority overall. Upon his big-league return, Walker started only one of three games in a road series against the Cincinnati Reds.
Near the end of that series, during which the Cardinals were swept and fell below a .500 mark they since haven’t surpassed, manager Oli Marmol said that would be used primarily against left-handed pitching going forward.
“The big-league team has a need, and it’s a right-handed bat. So, that’s the simplest way to look at it,” Marmol told MLB.com’s John Denton. “It’s not May. It’s the end of the year. You have limited amount of games left, and our biggest struggle has been against left-handed pitchers.”
Marmol continued to explain that he was aware of only a select few left-handed starting pitchers scheduled to face the Cardinals in upcoming matchups, standing by his previous remarks by saying, “there’s also left-handed relievers [where Walker] can take an at-bat against. We have a need [versus lefties], and it has to be someone that could play an outfield position.”
Walker started in just three games and came off the bench for a fourth out of six-game stretch before his option back to Memphis. He only had one hit in 11 at-bats.
Cardinals lead executive, John Mozeliak, did not seem thrilled with the idea of Walker being a platoon player down the stretch.
“What we’re facing over next week and a half, he wasn’t going to get much playing time,” Mozeliak told reporters on Tuesday. “Someone of his age still developing. If he isn’t playing, it doesn’t make sense for anyone.”
On his call-up last week, Mozeliak reflected, “I think at the time, it was quickly trying to fill the void and also seeing the sense of where he’s at. But ultimately, 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.”
To a certain extent, that also played into Gorman’s option. He has lost starting time to Brendan Donovan at second base since the trade deadline, more often utilized against right-handed pitching than southpaws.
More so leading to his option, Gorman has deeply struggled down the stretch. Over his last 50 games, since the middle of June, he has hit to an underwhelming .174 batting average and struck 74 times.
The strikeouts have piled up in situations when the Cardinals have needed balls put in play, most recently with a bases-loaded game-ending punchout in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. Gorman’s 151 strikeouts are the third-most among all MLB hitters this season.
“Obviously, it’s a game of production up here,” Mozeliak told MLB.com’s John Denton on Wednesday. “At some point, you’ve got to consistently produce, or we have to find someone who can.”
The Cardinals, now 61-64 and six games out of their closest path to postseason in a Wild Card spot, host the Brewers for two more games to close the homestand. The Brewers are one of six teams St. Louis will play in a gauntlet of postseason hopefuls through the first full week of September.
