The Cardinals announced that outfielder Jordan Walker has been placed on the team’s 10-day injured list (retroactive to May 29) due to left wrist inflammation. Right-hander Gordon Graceffo has also been optioned to Triple-A, while coming up from Triple-A are right-hander Roddery Munoz and utilityman Ryan Vilade. In Vilade’s case, his minor league contract was selected to the Cards’ active roster.
The IL trip comes at a particularly inopportune time for Walker, as he was starting to heat up after an extended slump. After posting just a .502 OPS over his first 138 plate appearances of the season, Walker had hit .333/.353/.545 over his last 34 trips to the dish. These ups and downs have come over the first true extended stint of everyday playing time Walker has had in his three MLB seasons, as he has been the Cardinals’ starting right fielder for the majority of the 2025 season.
St. Louis came into the year committed to finding playing time for some of its younger players, and Walker has remained a lineup regular despite his struggles. With Walker now sidelined, Alec Burleson or Brendan Donovan could see more time in the outfield, and Donovan moving more into the outfield mix could open up second base for Nolan Gorman.
Vilade’s multi-positional ability should also net him some looks as the 26-year-old is on the verge of his first big league action of 2025. The Cardinals signed Vilade to a minor league deal during the offseason, and he has thus far played all three outfield positions as well as first, second, and third base over 48 games with Triple-A Memphis. Beyond his contributions to the depth chart, Vilade has also drawn attention with his bat, as he is hitting .280/.375/.476 over 192 PA with Memphis.
Vilade’s MLB resume consists of 20 career games — three with the Rockies in 2021 and 17 with the Tigers last season, with 56 PA and a .416 OPS to show for that small taste of the Show. His minor league numbers are naturally much more solid, with Vilade producing consistently better offense over parts of four seasons now of Triple-A ball.
Bad timing. Hope it’s nothing serious. BTW, a few less head-first slides would be something to think about, my dude.
With all of the head first slides by all of the players, I am surprised that we don’t see more injuries. More now than I ever recall.
This may be Gorman’s last chance to show what he can do. I’ve never been enthusiastic about his abilities. There is still hope for Walker. He turned around his defensive struggles, maybe he can be the hitter the club thought he was gonna be. We will see.
He’s showed the ability to be really clutch
Earlier in his career, seems they got the
Book on him now and he cant adjust
Needs to take the ball the other way more
That is true he refuses to hit the ball where it’s pitched to the opposite field. His power is top of the scale he could legit hit 40 homers a year but he cant seem to work a count or adjust to hit the ball when it’s pitched outside.
One more guy rushed to the pros way too early. He was on pace for 171 Ks in AAA, and the FO decided he could hit pro pitching, at 20 years old. This is like the Angels with Adell.
And what was his OPS at AAA?
He wasnt rushed he just isn’t making adjustments and being patient. And he isn’t hitting the ball where it’s pitched.
I agree he looks awkward in the out field , John Jay seems to be always having to get his attention and position him in the out field, he does not appear to run hard. Send him down to AAA and let him learn.
Wow, this statement is just wrong!
It’s amazing how he’s actually playing average defense (0 OAA) after how badly he struggled at it the last two years!
This injury is a drag
Reminds me of JD drew
Everytime he’d start hitting
Bam injury and to the IL
Do you follow baseball or write poems?
Not a haiku here
Would have been a better use
Of chance presented
LOL
I don’t write anything
Nor do I follow
I just don’t like sentences
Punctuation, or grammer
There’s never been
“A good chance”
Walker isn’t injury prone. Even this is just a minimal IL stint. His issues lie elsewhere.
Vilade can be solid but he’s a AAAA player in my opinion
Would’ve preferred Matt Koperniak over Vilade, but point stands that this is pretty inopportune for Walker. Hope Gorm can do something.
I’ve met koperniak. Good guy. He should have made the roster in general instead of gorman
Koperniak has a 591 OPS. Also he’s a lefty the need is for a righty.
Koperniak had a good spring but hasn’t hit at all in Memphis. .205/.271/.321 isn’t getting the call.
Please don’t move Donovan off of second base and open the door for the 32% strikeout rate and far less proficient rate on defense by Nolan Gorman.
Putting Burleson in right field and leaving Donovan at 2nd makes a lot more sense offensively and defensively.
I would like to see Gorman as the DH against righties for now.
Then what do they do with Herrera? They need his bat in the lineup almost every game, but they don’t want his poor defense behind the plate more than once a week or so.
Not defensively, as Burleson is a worse defensive outfielder than Gorman’s defense is at 2B, but yes that’s the best overall arrangement despite that against RHP.
However, Burleson can’t hit lefties, but of course, neither can Gorman. That’s where Vilade comes in.
I think Herrera needs to catch more like 3 days a week although yes his defense isn’t good. We cant roster 2 former catchers with no current position Herrera has to catch some. Or let Contreras do it i don’t care.
Yeah Villade looks like a DH against lefties like Baker but more position versatility.
Interesting that Siiriani wasn’t recalled. He seems to have fallen pretty far.
I think Siani’s profile is too similar to Scott – LHH outfielder with a lot of his value tied to good CF defense – to be a good fit on the active roster while Scott is playing well.
Doesn’t help Siani’s case that so many of the other OF options – Nootbaar, Donovan, and Burleson = also hit LH. Plus Gorman in the mix as a LHH at 2B when Donovan moves to the OF.
good points, thanks
simple take: jordan walker sucks & this may be the last year he sees major playing time …. mark my words
Gorman”s defense leaves a lot to be desired, his hitting is inconsistent, and not sure about his ability to stay healthy. Walker does not look comfortable at the plate and takes some odd routes to fly balls as well as looking as if he is not running hard. Send them both to AAA
Walker has actually been very good defensively this year, which is hard to believe but still true. His bat has heated up lately and has been useful against left-handed pitching if nothing else.
I’m not sure Gorman has any minor league options remaining, but if he does, yeah, that’s something the Cardinals need to consider eventually if he doesn’t turn it around.
I don’t think you know what “extended stint of everyday playing time means.”
Walker did play regularly over the first month and last two months of his rookie year. He also played regularly during September of last year.
As for this season, he started off as the regular right fielder, but he’s been losing playing time over the last month, as the Cardinals are prioritizing plate appearances for young players who are actually hitting well like Burleson and Herrera. Even during his recent hot streak, he’s been sitting against a number of right-handed starters.