5 things on my mind: Jordan Walker’s Memphis diagnosis begins (again), Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine returns, and ruthless back pain

The top prospect will work on his hitting at Memphis.

One of the tough things about being a top prospect for a professional sports team is that fans and front office management paint a picture for what they’d like you to do without fully understanding what that player is capable of. This timetable gets placed on a treadmill, and cranked up to a high speed. It’s like getting shoved out of a boat in the middle of a shadowy body of water without being told how deep the water is. When it’s going bad, the world can get very quiet and judgmental. Jordan Walker is in the middle of this right now.

That’s your quick tease. Here are five things on my mind, including how the Cardinals are doing the same thing with Walker as they did last year due to a slow start, and why it’s fair not to trust this team with young hitter prospects who play the outfield.

Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports

5) Last year saw Walker start the season with the team before being sent down due to a slow start. He would later return and thrive, but has found himself on the same trek this spring. This year is worse; Walker was demoted last year on April 23 with a .279 average. With a .155 average and no home runs, Walker was sent down to Memphis today before the afternoon game. The timetable for his return will ultimately depend on how fast he can identify the problem, which isn’t as easy as plugging a laptop into a car or truck and waiting for a code.

It could be weeks or a month. After all, the Cardinals handle prospects like I handle power tools: unsure and confused. The worst thing they can do is bring him back and send him down again later in the year. He doesn’t get a Paul Goldschmidt length of rope, but screwing with his development will add years to his progression to being a star. This is not the first time this has happened. Also, watch for the minor league coaches to unlock the problem faster than the big league coaches did.

4) Back pain is awful for just about anyone. You’re uncomfortable all the time, and feel like one wrong movement could turn into an even worse feeling and injury. Back pain after 40 somehow finds a way to be very painful. Annoying when you have a full time job and adulting chores to take care of. The next work day doesn’t pause to ask how you’re feeling in the morning.

Sudden back pain is the worst, something I found out early this morning. In about 20 minutes, I had to prepare for work and a familiar kind of pain that makes manhandling bathtubs and water heaters particularly difficult, all the while turning a young man into an ancient ex-wrestler. If only time could stand still. Ibuprofen remains a fine supporting actor in my life, but the John Wayne walk has been activated.

That and a handy back brace (Thanks, Don Smith, aka Courtney B. Vance) that felt like I was putting on a championship belt after a fight where I had my ass kicked.

Getting older is a privilege, but should come with hazard pay.

3) Say what you want about which organizations they donate to or don’t donate to, but there isn’t a single better fast food restaurant than Chick-fil-A. In other words, nobody can touch their speed and maintainable food quality, without offering the customer a half-hour motel nearby. You can pull into a parking lot stuffed with cars at rush hour and get out of there with your food and sanity intact, something that 95% of the rest of fast food places only dream of.

They’ve taken heat for donating to anti-LGBQT organizations, even if they’ve reportedly stopped within the past few years with at least two of those annual donations. However, when I’m pulling in for a meal that I most likely didn’t plan on acquiring ten minutes ago, I’m not thinking about the restaurant’s political beliefs or donation list. I’m sure the employees don’t either, many of whom happen to be gay or bisexual. I mean, how can they live with themselves?!

It’s a job, that’s how. Same as a fast food meal usually being a means to an end. Still, making it fresh and getting people out of the lot at the rate that they do is an impressive feat in a day and age where fast food joints aren’t that fast. Example: Today, my wife left right after my lunch break started to get a mobile order from Chick-fil-A, and got back less than 30 minutes later, driving at least three miles each way. Part of the reason is she drives like a female Bourne with a whole lot of memory, but it’s also a well-run machine.

2) The move continues down in University City. If I could blink and see half of a giant, brand-new warehouse fill up with plumbing supplies, I’d stop complaining about the Cardinals for at least a few days. In a week that could see all hands on deck roll into the weekend, Crescent Plumbing Supply surges ahead. It’s not easy moving a business when it’s still operating, but they don’t just let anyone hand plumbers cast iron pipe, copper fittings, and every other kind of fixer-tool that isn’t formulating in my brain.

It’s close to ten hours of “get it done” action, every day. Just think, when you’re waking up thinking about coffee, I’ve already had two cups and dropped off two deliveries. I rise with the sun, and it’s always at least a little fun. The other part is just rugged, white horse adulting.

1) Jax is Logan eternally. Two minutes spent verbally spooning with the co-star of Welcome to Wrexham proved it. There can’t be another Wolverine, which is why I was happy to see Hugh Jackman come back one last time to beat the shit out of Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool & Wolverine. What’s it about? Multiple universes, badass bald female villains, and lots of cocaine nicknames.

Who cares what it’s about? This new kind of Marvel joint, on the heels of several forgettable entries, leans hard on the raunchy Wade Wilson bible of putdowns and roasts, giving Jackman a chance to place a cherry on top of arguably his best role.

The vengeful dad in Prisoners and his showman in The Prestige made perfect use of the versatile Australian, but he fills out the anger, body, and general mindset of “the X-Man” in more ways than one.

The first teaser trailer for the July 26 release didn’t even show Jackman, except for a silhouette figure near the end. The full trailer, released Tuesday, showcases the man who brought back sideburns in 2000. 24 years later, “go fuck yourself” still rolls off the tongue like a profane yet beautiful velvet highway. MCU fan or skeptic, don’t miss this one.

“Let’s fucking go.”

Bonus: Matthew Macfadyen, aka Tom from Succession, gets to sport his awesome accent as a bad guy terrorizing the two stars. Instead of Shiv terrorizing him, he’s turning the tables on two of comic book movie fans’ greatest cinematic inventions. What an asshole.

Thanks for reading and have a nice Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, something I’m treating with bourbon and HBO.