The St. Louis Cardinals have gotten off to a very disappointing start to the 2023 season, and appear to have made their standout rookie an early scapegoat.
Jordan Walker, a consensus top-10 prospect, was optioned to Memphis on Wednesday amid a roster shake-up. The Cardinals are off to a 9-15 start and have a third-worst record in the National League.
Walker is a poor defender, but that was to be expected. He was hitting .274 with 2 home runs and certainly was not the problem with the Cardinals, especially considering he was doing it as a 20-year-old in his first taste of MLB action. He even started his MLB career by getting at least one hit in each of his first 12 games.
The Cardinals have been a mess to start the season. One of their key players reacted poorly to public criticism from manager Oliver Marmol, and now they are demoting a player who has been quite impressive with the bat at the beginning of the year. This might not be the best way to way to turn things around.
