The Cardinals finished the first half of the season with 51 wins and 46 losses — their best first-half record since 2015, surpassing many preseason expectations. However, they stumbled into the All-Star break with a 3-8 stretch, partly due to multiple injuries.
Manager Oliver Marmol said before the team’s 7-3 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field that the break came at the right time. “Our guys were beat up. We’re still coming out of it. A good example is Nolan Gorman, who still can’t play. We needed the break,” Marmol explained.
Gorman was originally in Friday’s lineup but was scratched two hours before game time because his sore lower back wasn’t cooperating. He remains day to day. There was some good news on the injury front, though: third baseman Nolan Arenado returned after missing two games with a sprained finger, and right fielder Jordan Walker came back following an appendectomy.
Walker, 23, also missed time earlier this season with a wrist issue and has struggled overall, batting .206 with a 33% strikeout rate before his latest stint on the injured list. The team hopes swing adjustments he worked on during his rehab will help him in the second half.
“There’s been a lot of inconsistency with Jordan’s swing path,” Marmol said. “These changes should help remove wasted movement and help him swing from a more consistent position.”
Walker, who debuted in 2023 as one of baseball’s top prospects, hasn’t fully lived up to that hype yet, though he’s shown flashes of his potential. He almost had another big moment Friday, but Arizona’s Alek Thomas denied him.
In the fifth inning, with the Cardinals down 5-0, Walker hit a ball 411 feet to left-center at 103.2 mph off the bat. Statcast data suggested it would have been a home run in 27 other parks, but not in Arizona. Thomas covered 108 feet at nearly 29 feet per second, leaped at the wall, and made the catch, leaving Walker stunned as he rounded second.
“It was a great play,” Walker said. “I wish it would’ve dropped, but he did everything right. Next time I just have to hit it harder.”
Even though it didn’t clear the wall, Marmol saw the at-bat as a positive sign. “We need to keep seeing more of that,” he said. “That’s the kind of contact we need from him.”
Marmol is trying to balance developing young talent with competing for a playoff spot after missing the postseason the past two years. While he isn’t ready to guarantee Walker an everyday role yet, the growth of young players like Walker, Gorman, Victor Scott II, and Masyn Winn will help determine whether the Cardinals can play in October.
“We got to this point by developing our guys and giving them chances,” Marmol said. “That won’t change just because we’re ahead of where people thought we’d be. The players are working hard, learning every day, and adjusting. We’ll stick with that approach and see where it takes us.”
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