Burning questions for the Caridnals, part 3: Jordan Walker makes the STL outfield exciting
Walker is the #6 prospect in all of baseball, and the outfield is his landing spot.
The Cardinals have problems. We all have problems. Right now, I am thinking about the first puff of cannabis that I will take off my new strain, TRAINWRECK, and when I will do it. The mind is tired, the back is agitated, and I am ready to launch this past week in the sun. But let's get into PART THREE of the St. Louis baseball team's offseason burning questions.
I covered the catcher position, a place Yadier Molina will not start at for the first time in 17 years. The rotation was discussed, linked to the question of Adam Wainwright's pending 2023 status. So, what's next? The outfield. Who plays? Who is the fourth outfielder? Who won't finish the year with the team? Let's get into it.
Who plays?
If the season started today, Dylan Carlson is your starting centerfielder. Defensively, he’s the best to handle it and also someone who put up a fine 2021 season if you can remember back a year or so ago. Tyler O'Neill will have his arbitration contract worked out, and he could contend for left field. His inability to stay healthy consistently blew up again for the Canadian and the Cards this year. Five years in, regularity escapes the former trade piece received in exchanged for Marco Gonzales.
Carlson got a whiff of the injury bug in 2022, losing a portion of his season and failing to make a real dent offensively. He did show enough ability in center to give the front office enough assurance to trade Harrison Bader and break up that tripod of production from a year ago, but he’ll have to show more fire at the plate with Bader clubbing four home runs for the Yankees in the postseason. Expectations are known to evolve in sports, and they slice like hammers.
Alec Burleson annihilated Triple-A pitching up until his promotion late in the season, but he didn't get a full audition just yet. Jordan Walker is destroying the Arizona Fall League as we speak, following his destruction of Springfield, a place that is reportedly the hardest area for minor leaguers to hit.
The reasons for that range from a team's most raw arms who are on the cusp of the final step before the bigs reside, or it could just be a storied tradition of every level having its own treacherous encounters. Alas, Walker is really hitting and is playing the outfield.
Enter Walker
I don't think Jordan, who reportedly looks like a man among boys in the minors, will jump right into center field. He has a clearer line to left or right field, something that puts O'Neill on watch and Burleson on a timer. The latter could be moved in an offseason trade including "launch into sun immediately" candidates, Paul DeJong and Dakota Hudson, or he could get that audition in the spring and early part of the season.
Hit a TON or be injured a ton?
O'Neill, as I wrote last week, is a big question mark. Do you draw out 400 at-bats for him, especially after a season where he struggled to stay healthy or slug over .400? He's the Chinese food place that you like one time and find less-than-pleasing the next. You don't know what you're going to get, and that makes a contract talk slightly difficult.
Due to his explosive 2021, O'Neill will get a starting gig in left if he comes out of camp healthy. So, you have Carlson in center and Tyler in left, so that leaves right field. I don't think the team will sign a starter for the outfield, due to the imminent emergence of Walker. You could see Brendan Donovan and Tommy Edman find a few innings out there, especially if Nolan Gorman isn't hitting the DH slot that day.
Outfield is going to be a fluid situation for 2023, or at least the start of it. The Cards won't commit big money to a spot where young guns are bound to fill for cheap.
Jordan Walker is THE prospect right now. Prospects may be a toss-up in general, but Walker's rise through the system and his assault of every league makes him different. He's ranked 6th on the Top 100 Baseball Prospects on MLB.com. That's a legit mark. Shortstop-to-be Masyn Winn is the next Cardinal on the list at #51.
It's Walker who makes the outfield next year seem more exciting than it normally would. See you next time for a longer conversation about shortstop.
Until then, be nice and make your own opinions.