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In Tuesday's spring training game, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker exited with left knee pain. Walker was reevaluated Tuesday evening and again Wednesday morning. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol updated the media on Wednesday afternoon, revealing that the outfielder's knee is structurally sound.
“It is what it is,” said Marmol via John Denton of MLB.com. “We'll let it calm down for a week and then we'll ramp that baby back up, and we'll still have time to see him in plenty of [spring training] games.”
The Cardinals drafted Walker with their first-round pick in the 2020 MLB draft. Selected right out of Decatur High School in Georgia, the 6'6” right-handed batter went on to make his big-league debut in 2023. Walker appeared in 117 games in his rookie season, slashing .276/.342/.445 with 16 homers.
Nevertheless, the 22-year-old was the definition of ‘sophomore slump' in 2024. Walker spent better than half of last season in the minors. In 51 games for St. Louis, Walker batted just .201 with 50 strikeouts and a 71 OPS+ across 178 plate appearances. The youngster's batted ball numbers took a hit in 2024 as well. Walker's line drive percentage dropped from 25.2 down to 18.1, while his groundball percentage increased from 46.9 to 50.
This knee injury is definitely not what anybody in the Cardinals' organization wanted to see. Coming into spring training, Walker seemed determined to make this season his best yet.
“I have dreams about All-Star Games, the World Series and about being a Hall of Famer,” Walker said, via John Denton of MLB.com. “This right here is not the stuff you dream about — being in the hot sun at 7 a.m. and putting in work. But this is what I need to achieve all my dreams. I just want to take everything step by step and continue to dream about those kinds of things.”
Entering the 2025 season, Walker is expected to be the club's everyday right fielder. The Cardinals inability to trade Nolan Arenado has created quite the logjam. With Arenado at third, slugger Nolan Gorman will remain at second base. The promising Masyn Winn is at shortstop, and Brendan Donovan will have to play left field if he is to stay in the lineup. With Lars Nootbaar in centerfield most likely, Walker's spot will be in right field. This takes away playing time for Thomas Saggese, Michael Siani, and Victor Scott.
The Cardinals will open up the 2025 season on March 27 against the Minnesota Twins.
