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The St. Louis Cardinals are entering a new age after saying goodbye to Cardinals legend Paul Goldschmdt in the offseason. Jordan Walker is one of the future faces of the team, and Oliver Marmol wants his outfielder to focus on both sides of the ball. Specifically he wants Walker, Victor Scott II and Lars Nootbaar to be more aggressive in the field.
In his first two years in the majors, Walker focused on not making mistakes on defense. Unfortunately, that prevented him from using his athleticism and his 6-foot-6 frame to make plays in the outfield. Now, Walker's new defensive mindset sees him getting more chances to come up clutch in the field.
“Playing back, I missed out on opportunities to make plays, missed out on opportunities to get outs, missed out on opportunities, you know, to save runs,” said Walker to St. Louis Dispatch writer Derrick Goold. “That’s really the main reason you’re in the field.”
Walker, along with Scott II, are learning from Nootbaar, one of the league's better fielders. They are becoming more aggressive defensively, and it has paid dividends for the pitchers that rely on them. Sonny Gray and Matthew Liberatore sport ERA's under 4.00 thanks to the defense behind them.
While Walker and Nootbaar are dedicated to being better in the field, they are still valuable batters. Nolan Arenado provides the Cardinals' heroics, but the St. Louis outfielders are key pieces to the lineup.
Walker's team needs more balanced contributions from their roster in order to rebound into contention. The National League Central is one of the MLB's more competitive divisions after a long period of the Cardinals dominating. St. Louis is close to the bottom of the division, but only six games separate first from last.
If the Cardinals are going to reclaim their division title, Walker's new defensive mindset will be a big reason why.
