Can Jordan Walker's return help lineup get right against lefty pitchers?: Cardinals Extra (2024)

CINCINNATI — There were times this summer at Class AAA Memphis that young outfielders Jordan Walker and Victor Scott II would wax “a little nostalgic” together about the bright lights, big crowds and bombastic speakers they experienced way back on opening weekend in the lineup for the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. A fresh season awaited them, there for the taking.

Some speed bumps and a detour took them to Memphis.

Walker knew his best route back.

“I needed to hit better,” Walker said. “I think that was my main focus — trying to hit better. This whole year, I felt like I could hit. I just need to get back to what made me the hitter that I was.”

He’ll show how far he’s come by being where he started.

Walker, the Cardinals’ 22-year-old prized prospect, rejoined the team in Cincinnati on Monday and immediately returned to the lineup, starting in right field. He was 0 for 3, with a walk and a strikeout, in the Cardinals’ 6-1 loss.

Walker’s gear was on the way to Jacksonville, Florida, so he borrowed a couple of bats, used a spare glove and wore his cleats designed specifically for the Fourth of July. Matt Carpenter’s unavailability for the series against the Reds because of back pain put him on the 10-day injured list and opened a spot on the active roster. The Cardinals used the opportunity to add Walker’s right-handed bat as a possible boost to their ongoing struggles against left-handed pitchers, such as Reds Monday starter Andrew Abbott.

Manager Oliver Marmol said that Walker will “platoon” with the Cardinals’ abundant left-handed-hitting outfielders. Asked if they considered promoting Walker earlier this month when they faced a series of lefty starters, Marmol said no. Carpenter’s injury spurred this choice.

Walker’s recent production helped.

“I think we’re getting closer to what he was hoping to get to,” Marmol said.

For the Triple-A Redbirds, Walker has hit .349 with a .404 on-base percentage and a .649 slugging percentage in his past 10 games. He had five of his nine home runs in his past 15 minor league games, and in that same span, he had his two hardest-hit baseballs of the season, leaving his bat at 113.3 mph and 113.1 mph. He has also hit home runs of 434 feet and 446 feet. All of that distance traveled to get him back to the majors, Walker traces back to the work he’s done on a batting tee.

Along with Memphis hitting coaches Howie Clark and Will Hawk, Walker traced some of the troubles he had while hitting .155 and slugging .259 for the Cardinals to his hand positioning. They saw in video where he put his hands before triggering his swing was inconsistent. That became the goal — consistent hand movement before each pitch. Teammate Mike Antico recommended Walker use tee drills to help.

Antico would stand in the cage with Walker and help him make sure his hands were in the preferred position with each swing.

He would point out when they were right and when they drifted.

“I think your most true swings are going to come off the tee when the ball is not moving,” Walker said. “It’s going to show you if your swing is true. ... I would look at old swings, and I just got away from (consistent hand positioning). Now my main focus right is maintaining that, not letting my hands get back to being inconsistent before I fire.”

He noted that recent home runs have come against pitches that had given him problems because he wasn’t starting with the same hand position. He drilled a change-up for a recent homer, and he got around on and lifted a fastball buzzing in him.

The Cardinals are near the bottom in the league in production against left-handed pitchers, and that was a driving reason why they wanted to acquire Tommy Pham at the trade deadline. Asked that evening if there still was room for Walker in their plans, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said he wouldn’t “rule it out” and that he wanted to see a “few great weeks.” But Mozeliak had a familiar caveat to any promotion of Walker: “If he comes up, he’s got to play.”

On cue, Walker had those weeks.

He’s back up.

Playing time awaits, if he hits.

“Right now, having a good plan in place,” Walker said. “Ready to get going.”

A 1st for KC crowd

For the first time since the advent of interleague play, the Royals had larger home crowds at Kauffman Stadium for games against the Cardinals in the same season the Cardinals hosted the Royals at Busch Stadium. The Royals drew two of their four largest crowds of this season to the Cardinals’ two-day visit last weekend, and in total, the Royals had a tickets-sold crowd of 70,865 for the two games.

That bested the two-game total of 70,006 at Busch, and that had never happened in the Show-Me Showdown, according to research by the Post-Dispatch.

The Kansas City Star wrote the two-game series in KC had an “October vibe.”

The Friday crowd got a boost from a post-game performance by wax-spinning DJ Diesel, who is known better by his real name, Shaquille O'Neal.

While the Cardinals have seen a softening of ticket sales this season because of recent standings, KC’s visit to St. Louis also was muddied by a rainout that prompted a day-night doubleheader on a weekday. Neither game sold more than 38,000 tickets, though a that is still higher than most teams when it comes to ticket sales for midweek games, let alone doubleheaders.

According to records kept at Baseball-Reference.com, this is the first time in a full-capacity season since interleague play was introduced in 1997 that the Cardinals hosted the Royals and did not have a paid crowd of more than 40,000 for at least one game.

From the opening of Busch III in 2006 through 2017, the Cardinals had 29 consecutive games against the Royals that drew more than 40,000 fans.

C-note for cornerstones

With their start together Monday night on opposite sides of the infield, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado joined a small club of cornerstone Cardinals. They are only the fourth combination of first and third basem*n to make 100 starts together in four consecutive seasons, according to research by the club. They are the first duo to do since Gold Glove Award winners Keith Hernandez and Ken Reitz did it from 1977-80.

Goldschmidt and Arenado, who finished first and third — like their positions — in the National League MVP voting in 2022, have started at least 106 games in each of the past three seasons at their positions.

The other Cardinals tandems to do so at first and third bases are Bill White and Ken Boyer, who did it six consecutive seasons (1960-65); and Ed Konetchy and Mike Mowrey, who started and first and third, respectively, more than 100 times together in each of the seasons from 1910-13.

Injury roundup

Lance Lynn (right knee) completed his first bullpen session since going on the injured list. How he recovers from it Tuesday will tell the Cardinals more about his timetable for a return and how quickly he’ll be able to be game-ready. The Cardinals are not yet sure if he’ll take a rehab assignment before returning to rotation.