Three key developing players to the Cardinals organization’s plans
Last week I briefly touched upon what up and coming players Masyn Winn and Victor Scott II have been doing since their debuts, and both are seen in a positive light by most fans. They deserve the accolades and most of us fans think they will at least be entertaining players good enough to not gripe about much if at all.
But then there are three players who have been around longer than Winn and Scott, that I think all of us at times feel forced to complain about. Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, and Nolan Gorman. All seem to be highly regarded by the Cardinals professional baseball organization, and have been given support and belief in their abilities by the ownership as well as every managerial and coaching position in the organization.
And I say such a definitive statement because they all have been given ample playing time to prove themselves. But what are we seeing here? Are they being forced into MLB too quickly? Why are they struggling? Why do we complain?
Links in player name are to their respective baseball savant player card
- born May 22nd, 2002
- 2023 debut
- 207 games
- 95 career wRC+
- 24 home runs
Jordan struggled mightily on defense during his 2023 debut, but it was by far his best offensive performance at 116 wRC+ as a rookie. He had a famous hitting streak that year. But since then it’s been nothing but frustration hitting-wise, until more recently where he began a new hitting streak. His offense as a whole this year has been even worse than 2024, which is pretty bad. We see him getting fooled a lot by breaking pitches, and he cannot seem to lay off of them. But the fact remains that the bulk of his playing time in MLB was in 2023 where he actually hit pretty well after being thrown into the fire before most players would have been promoted.
The exciting thing about Walker has never been about the counting number results, it’s been about the true potential. Amazing throwing arm, blazing speed, and tons of power with some of the highest exit velocities of any baseball player around. If still struggling to explain why he is playing, there it is. They still believe in all that. And many fans do too. His bat speed remains among the very best. Aside from that though, only his average exit velocity is exciting (not all of his hits are rockets).
He does hit the ball hard fairly often, but he’s among the worst third of players in MLB at barreling the ball. Walker isn’t the victim of a major lefty righty split; he’s just not hitting a lot. He has fared the best batting 7th in the lineup, but has seen many more plate appearances batting 6th or 8th. I don’t know why he’s doing so much better batting 7th, but it’s an interesting anomaly at the least. Jordan Walker likes to hit in St Louis better than on the road. While there are signs of up, it feels like Jordan Walker will still need more time to fully develop and we may have to wait until next season to see him excel.
Which is pretty tough considering he’s not really an elite defender. In comparison to how he used to field, he seems so much improved it might seem like he’s gaining value from defense. However, he’s been pretty average in right field when compared to MLB players. Which is of course a huge victory for him and his coaches, but still feels like maybe someone else should be playing more often than not. There is a bit of a conundrum here, do you let Walker play another season at the AAA level?
If you want a glimmer of hope for Jordan Walker in 2025 it’s over his last 5 games where he is batting .364 with a 1.091 OPS. We shall see what happens!
- born November 25, 1998
- 2022 debut (brief cup of coffee)
- 315 games
- 99 career wRC+
- 34 home runs
Where Jordan Walker has relied on bat speed this year, Alec Burleson has specialized in squaring up on the ball. Neither have barreled the ball well but Burly has done it a little better than Walker so far. Burleson chases a lot of pitches too but is having better results and usually doesn’t totally whiff. He has turned an iffy season around to 111 wRC+ in 2025, which is the best year of his career. Maybe Burly is turning it around finally!
We have seen Burleson taking a few more walks than usual, which has helped his low on-base percentage. Maybe since he is squaring up more on the ball his batting average is the best of his career. He will never be a real disciplined hitter but if he works on that more he will improve his whiffing at pitches all over the strike zone. I have constantly been complaining about Burleson being in the lineup but there have been some improvements.
Alec is batting .342 for the month of May with 4 home runs and 3 walks to his 4 strikeouts. He has only played 12 games in May, so he is getting some good opportunities to hit when he is utilized. His wRC+ is above 200. He is producing RBI. He seems actually good all the sudden. But this might be his midseason mirage self we saw last year. And the benefit of good platooning maybe?
Burleson should not hit vs lefties. He basically can’t do it. He has had 10x more plate appearances vs righties so apparently the Cardinals have realized this long ago and are utilizing him better than I thought. Burleson had no home runs before May, so I kind of got used to that useless Burly at bat in April. Last year Burleson hit his home runs between May and July, so it will be interesting to see what happens this year.
- born May 10th, 2000
- 2022 debut
- 342 games
- 100 career wRC+
- 61 home runs
This season, if you didn’t know any better, it might look like Nolan Gorman turned himself into a defensive replacement. Maybe he was even instructed to. He is after all, the most experienced of these three aging up and comers. But he is not the oldest. Gorman was in fact more hastily promoted than Jordan Walker, even!
Gorman’s peak wRC+ of 118 shows some potential, as do all of the home runs. He hasn’t really played that many more games than Burly, and is in the center age-wise of the three players. How do you give up on 1 of the three and not the others? Perhaps that is the Cardinals exact predicament at the moment. Unfortunately for Nolan Gorman, he plays at the most blocked positions: second base is usually reserved for Brendan Donovan, and third base is blocked by the unmovable rangey defensive cornerstone playing future hall of famer Nolan Arenado, who just so happens to even have Gorman’s first name.
Ok so this situation is a good problem to have until you start losing because of it, and none of these players seem to be actually hurting the team, as much as maybe potentially blocking a similar level of player who may or may not help much. Gorman like Burleson is being protected a bit from facing left handed pitching. But he’s just not getting much playing time and has lost priority to Burleson and Walker. Nolan Gorman will probably struggle now to remain in good form hitting-wise, and to improve any from what he’s been doing, which hasn’t been winning him any playing time.
What these three players do is give the Cardinals depth and a hope for the future. Nolan Gorman’s window might appear to be closing but he’s still younger than Burleson who might actually have the shortest straw of the three for all we know. Good for Burly to be winning himself playing time and producing some big hits. If he slumps, big deal. Barrero might end up taking a spot on the roster. Or maybe Gorman or Walker will actually be demoted. It is nonetheless fun to think about what will happen. That’s why they play the games.
But as Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker find themselves improved on defense, both having moved away from third base, is Burleson hitting that much better to force himself into playing time in the outfield? Personally I don’t think Alec Burleson should be playing anywhere but DH and maybe backup 1B. Let’s not forget that it is Nolan Gorman who has the best career numbers of the three. I see Burleson hitting well with a bit of a downside: he will block playing time at DH from a variety of players that could use some playing time there. And he will force Jordan Walker to hit left handed pitchers more often if he plays right field, perhaps effecting his development.
The real problem is Burly’s defense, as alluded to before. Burleson has 14 games mostly as a backup at first base. Other than that, he’s only played 4 games in the outfield, 2 at each corner. Burleson is fine at first base but not fine in the outfield. He shouldn’t take up any playing time out there. One thing that is easy to figure out about playing time is if you want Burly’s bat in the lineup you’re going to have to either give Contreras more time off or let Burleson take up the bulk of playing time at DH. Let Walker play every day or send him down to AAA. Get Gorman some at bats, he’s still young. Younger than Burly.
So as you can see I’m still somewhat frustrated about Burleson playing a lot, and he is after all hitting his way into a playing spot. But you still can’t let him play vs lefties. And you can’t let him play the outfield much when Nootbaar, Walker and Donovan can field the corners so much better. Sorry Burly but I still think Gorman should be playing as much if not more. That’s how bad you hit lefties and play outfield. While I do like Alec Burleson, I think he needs to be a platoon or bench player.
Playing Time 2025 as of May 19, 2025
- Burleson 40 of 48 games and 132 PA
- Gorman 27 of 48 games and 92 PA
- Walker 39 of 48 games and 146 PA
So it sure does look like they’re losing some interest in Gorman despite his defense. He’s just not getting nearly as much playing time. Brendan Donovan could be played in left field more often but then that would force Nootbaar to right field. The situation will work itself out eventually but for now, it makes one ponder…