The Cardinals have more firmly committed to a retool than they did last offseason. They treated last season primarily as an evaluation year but weren’t as aggressive in selling off veteran pieces as they’ve been this winter. Unfortunately, they didn’t see any development from former first-round picks and top prospects Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman. They’re in a similar position now as they were 12 months ago, though the pressure is probably ramping up on both players.
MLBTR examined Walker’s situation as the ’25 season was nearing its end. He’ll enter camp as the everyday right fielder but needs to take a major step forward if he’s to project as a regular on the 2027 team. There might be even more urgency for Gorman, who is two years older than Walker and has more than 1500 major league plate appearances under his belt. He’ll turn 26 in May. If there’s a breakout season in the cards, it probably needs to be now.
The opportunity should be there. After more than a year of trade rumors, the Cards lined up the Nolan Arenado deal a couple weeks ago. Third base is open, at least in the short term. Top prospect JJ Wetherholt is on the doorstep of the majors and may even play his way onto the Opening Day roster. There’s a good chance the Cardinals trade Brendan Donovan within the next two months, though, which would open second base for Wetherholt. That’d leave Gorman competing with Thomas Saggese for playing time at the hot corner.
Saggese has a strong minor league track record, but his very aggressive approach probably leaves him in a utility role. Gorman has flashed a higher ceiling, yet it’s a couple seasons in the rearview. He hit 14 home runs in 89 games as a rookie, then slugged 27 longballs with a .236/.328/.478 slash line in year two. Gorman entered the 2024 season as a .232/.317/.454 hitter with 41 homers in his first season and a half as a big leaguer.
There was a significant amount of swing-and-miss, but Gorman’s power was enough to fit in the middle third of a lineup. That hasn’t been the case over the past two seasons. Gorman has taken roughly 800 trips to the plate in that time. His batting average and on-base percentage have dropped by 30 points each, while his slugging mark has fallen by more than 50 points. Gorman carries a .204/.284/.385 slash going back to the beginning of 2024.
His general profile is much the same as it was early in his career. The lefty hitter has a reasonably patient approach and works a decent number of walks, but his pure bat-to-ball ability is subpar. That’s probably not going to change as he gets into his late 20s. He needs to do damage when he does make contact. A combined 33 homers over his past 218 games isn’t enough.
Gorman battled a couple injuries last year. He missed time early in the season with a hamstring strain and was sidelined by lower back pain around the All-Star Break. The actual injured list stint was minimal, but it’s possible he was playing at less than full strength for the final two months. He finished the season with a .187/.278/.323 line while striking out at a near-40% rate in 45 games after returning from the IL stint. Gorman has battled intermittent back discomfort for a few seasons.
Whatever the cause, Gorman’s bat speed has gone slightly in the wrong direction. He’s still pulling a lot of balls to right field, which is where he’s most likely to hit for power, but it’s not with the same authority as he did in 2023. He also dramatically scaled back how often he swings at the first pitch and hunts pitches in the heart of the plate. That earned him a few more walks than he took the year before, but it’s not ideal for putting him in positions to drive the ball.
Gorman has between three and four years of service time. He’s playing on a $2.655MM arbitration salary. He still has a couple minor league option years remaining, so he’s not on the roster bubble right now. A third straight replacement level performance would make him a likely non-tender next offseason, however.
Image courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images.
I think this is going to be Gorman’s year. No pressure to compete for a playoff spot and an open spot for him to get abs.
Man, I hope you’re right. I’ve been looking forward to a Gorman break out. If he turns into a Schwarberish guy, id love it
I think he’ll be fine if they just let him have the first half of the season to play without pressure of being pulled every other day.
I wish you would be right, but I doubt it.
You mean you think he might be able to hit .250 ?
They have to trade Donovan for him to get a chance.
Parks Harber, Carson Whisenhunt, and a AA arm seems like a decent trade.
1-800-CallBuster.
Not necessarily. They could trade Nootbaar instead or Walker flops yet again, so Donovan plays mostly in the outfield like he did for the first half of the 2024 season.
Why let Donovan’s value sink by losing more team control? The Cards aren’t winning anything in 2026. He’s only controllable for 1 additional season
I hope this is his year also. I also hope he and Walker have been putting in the work this off season.
Winn started out the same way and worked his tail off in the off season and was the difference of night and day practically.
Gorman also needs to put in the work at third base. Don’t know if it was cause he hadn’t played there in a while last year, but he did not look good at the hot corner. Mainly throwing errors if i remember correctly. GO CARDS!!!
It’s honestly really difficult for me to imagine Walker rebounding very much at this point. Considering his terrible defense, his WAR has been downright horrible. I just can’t picture him suddenly putting it together enough to be anything much better than a replacement player.
Eternal hope for Walker. He will be 24 in May. At 24 Judge was entering his 1st ML season. He can turn it around…
If they come away from this season and can say that Gorman and Walker have a future on this team, that’s a huge success. Nothing is a sure thing, but Wetherholt just seems like a high floor guy that will at least hit us .270 with 15ish homers. Add in Joshua Baez who I think is a has been overshadowed by some of these other more toolsy outfielders the rankings seem to favor and we’re cooking with gas now.
Yes, the team is much younger now and the door is opened for a couple of young starters to step up as well. Let’s light up that runway for the youngins!
I’m definitely pulling for both Walker and Gorman, but at this point, if just one of them could hit .240 with 20 dingers, I’d be really happy.
We’ve been waiting for a while and I’m about done with the rollercoaster with these two, sorry to say.
But I’m glad they’re both in an ideal situation to try to turn the corner.
“If there is a breakout season in the cards”
Ha. Haha, even.
1581 PAs. Pretty good idea what Nolan Gorman is at this point.
Not always, inconsistent playing time for players who are used to being out there every day stifles careers. I hope new GM is more hands off, I think this org screwed up a few players that showed promise.
What are the Cardinals doing to improve his, or Walker’s hitting? If it’s the same thing with the same coaches, they’ll get….
They’re both working in the offseason with different hitting clinics, so maybe this will be the time we see good things.
They both know they’re on the clock and that this is their last really good shot at making it happen.
Charlie, you just made andthenisaid’s point…. They’re working at hitting clinics because the current coaching staff hasn’t unlocked their potential. As soon as they get to camp, the coaches will begin to unravel any good they may have made during the off season.
@isa
1. We don’t know the ins and outs of what each player and instructor does, and how each player responds.
2. The changes Bloom has made by adding instructors for the ball club are new. The guys who are on the bubble don’t have time to wait.
3. Hitters who are on the bubble are trying to find something, and that’s their right/prerogative
4. We do not have any way of knowing whether independent hitting instructors are at odds with Cardinal instructors, so it’s not fair to assume they are
5. It’s tempting to question what everyone is doing because of the lack of success for the club, overall, and the lack of success for certain players is frustrating for everyone
They have hired over 40 new coaches, trainers, hitting instructors and also some stat guys….. They have so many new people to help they have name tags. They brought in new technology also. One thing they are not lacking is help. It’s a new regime.
New regime with a big focus on the farm, im excited for our future!
At some point someone is going to get a really good, detailed story breaking down the timeline of just how the player development got so damn screwed up.
We deserve answers, I hope we’ll get them some day.
My grandfather used to say. What does every town have in America have? A Sears Roebuck and a Cardinals farm team!
They have Gorman, Walker and Nootbaar who haven’t achieved the hype. The question is if they have good seasons and you get offered anything interesting for them do you hold or trade?
Nootbaar is closer to free agency, so maybe they trade him, but Gorman has 3 years of control left and Walker 4 years, so the Cards would keep them as core pieces of the next good team if either of them figure it out.
It’s a great time to trade them. It’s to the point where the shine is starting to wear off and a change of scenery might help.
Yes always the best time to trade is when they have no value.
@Nosferatu – you’re assuming that either of them has much trade value, which I highly doubt is the case. The prospect shine is gone to a greater degree than simply “starting to wear off”.
Gorman has been a roughly replacement level player over 800 PA’s in 2024/5. Walker has produced even less value over 550+ PA’s in 2024/5.
Some team, especially one in rebuilding/retooling mode, almost certainly would take a chance on seeing if they can unlock better performance out of Gorman or Walker. That’s the approach that the Cardinals appear to be taking. It’s *extremely* unlikely, though, that a team is going to trade much in the way of value to pay for that opportunity.
I’m sure they might find a team that have their own shineless ex prospect. Especially with Walker.
Realist
The Mets just traded for LRJ who’s essentially a 20 million a year version of Tyrone Taylor. Gorman probably doesn’t have much of any value right now but walker still might. Not only is he playing out of position in the outfield (if I remember correctly he came up as a first baseman) but he’s younger. If the cards who ever did make a move for him plugs him back at first where he’s more comfortable defensively i wouldn’t be surprised in the least the has a good season with the bat. People under estimate how much a guys bad defense will effect his offense
Not to mention the fear of being benched/optioned/waived after a bad week or 2 or an injury.
I wouldn’t put Nootbaar on the same list as Gorman and Walker. He had a down year in 2025 (96 wRC+), but he’s a career 110 wRC+ hitter (and exceeded that each year from 2022 to 2024). Injuries have been a significant issue for him, including offseason heel surgery. He’s only under team control through 2027. If he comes back in 2026 and is healthy/productive, he’s probably a trade candidate.
Walker and Gorman were more hyped than Nootbaar while prospects, but neither had sustained hitting success after 2023. As the article references, Gorman has been a well below average MLB hitter, and roughly replacement level for overall value, over the course of his last 800 PA’s (in 2024/25). Walker has been even worse for both hitting production and overall value in 550+ MLB PA’s in 2024/25.
Gorman is under team control through 2028, and Walker through 2029. If either/both perform well in 2026, I’d expect the Cardinals to keep them, in part because of that control timeline.
What do the Cards want for Donovan?
He’s a really good player, but he’s also not a superstar and not getting any younger(29). He’s not that fast, his defense is acceptable. A little bit of power. But he’s no Ketel Marte. He was drafted in the 7th round so the investment wasn’t huge. So why hasn’t he been traded yet?
“Because St Louis hasn’t gotten a good enough offer”. What’s good enough then? I get the Cards want to get max return but there’s a point where other teams just hang the phone up. The Mariners have Emerson but he’s already got a handful of AAA at bats and looks ready to go for Seattle in 2026, the M’s aren’t moving him.
I’m looking for some Card fans to explain this to me. Donovan has 2 years of control remaining and i don’t see St Louis competing until 2028.
Dave I think you answered your own question. I assume the offers are underwhelming. And Bloom has stated I will not trade him just to trade him. He’s inexpensive. He plays multiple positions ( he also played hurt for 2 months) at about league average. It isn’t the worst thing in the world to keep him and see how he does being healthy for a whole year. He’s also a great clubhouse guy.
@Davemlaw, “Defense is acceptable”?? He’s a Gold Glover!
Thanks. It was his rookie year and looking at WAR his D has steadily declined since then.
Donovan isn’t being sought after for that one GG. It’s his bat that’s in demand.
and defensive versatility
@Dave
“Multiple top prospects” is all I can find on the ask for Donovan. Pretty vague. Cards must be asking too much with all the teams that are interested, or it would be done by now.
Two top 100 prospects has pretty much been the consensus on the asking price all offseason.
Ol’ Uncle — Two top 100 prospects was the price for 1 year of Corbin Burnes.
Same ask on Donovan for 1 extra year, does seem a bit high, I dunno.
Word on the street is the Cards may be asking for a bit too much because they aren’t really interested in moving him.
There were a bunch of moves made that were pretty critical to the rebuild, but Donovan was more of a cherry on top bonus. He’s valuable and affordable for a lot of teams, so asking too much has upside, whether he gets moved or doesn’t. He’s a fan favorite and a great clubhouse guy, so keeping him would work well, too.
Probably won’t get extended beyond his two years of control and he can be moved (if productive and healthy) later in the season if the young guys are working out. This rebuild has a ton of moving parts and a lot of maybes, and Donovan can slot into a lot of spots, depending on the need.
I’m not sure what the Cardinals plan is. Gorman, Walker and Nootbar have all under performed. They’re trying to get too much for Donovan. He’s a very good utility player, but that’s all that he is. He has no power, no speed, and his only true value is positional flexibility. St. Louis was a great team for decades, but the past few years they’ve started to look and act more like the Angels. I hope they get better, but I have a feeling their rebuild isn’t working and they may need to tear down the existing roster even more. Good luck, Cards!
Donovan rarely strikes out and is an on-base machine! How can you say his only value is positional flexibility?! Also, while his power is below average, it’s not like it’s practically non-existent like it was for Ozzie Smith.
While the competition was relatively lacking among NL 2B, he still legitimately earned that All-Star selection last year and wasn’t just a pity pick so that every team has an All-Star like Paul DeJong was in 2019.
@Stuart — The pieces and moves for this rebuild are just now in place. This thing has been torn down to the studs; beyond moving Donovan and Romero, there are no other players to move that have value this offseason.
Now we just gotta see what kind of players we’re working with for a few months.
At what point are you beating a dead horse? Hurricane Gorman has been going strong for a while. Don’t get wrong I’d love to see him turn it around but let’s be real, it doesn’t look good. I’m more convinced Walker can turn it around than I am Gorman.
Dave I think JW needs to talk to Dave Winfield and Aaron Judge and maybe Stanton. I think Jordan is 6’7”. He’s strong as an ox, but he has very poor plate discipline. There’s not a whole lot of players that tall but when he hits it hard, it goes a long way. This is his last chance. I hope he succeeds.
Donovan’s availability has been so hyped by the baseball “experts” that the Cardinals are seemingly waiting for this big trade war to commence.
Ya, “half the league” with interest has been thrown out there.
It’s more like Donovan’s availability to be traded has been hyped up by the baseball “experts,” whereas the Cardinals themselves have not actively been trying to trade him.
I’m a Red Sox fan who has read all winter of the interest Boston has in him. I don’t want them to trade for him. He is not really that much better than what the Sox have and certainly doesn’t warrant giving up any top prospects to get him.
At least Gorman has a floor as an MLB backup and pinch-hitter. Walker is struggling just to stay in the Big Leagues.
Both walker and Gorman need to lay off the outside and low off speed. Learn to work the count and get their pitch. I have confidence and anticipate 55 hr between them.
Cards have waited until Donovan’s market rises to the top of what’s available. Smart teams know his worth and will pay.
Cardinals haven’t done well drafting players for several years now with players that have MLB service time. Maybe they’ve got evaluations all wrong and need to look at this area of the organization.
what do you think they have already started working on?
Yet another should have been the Cardinals destroyed with opposite field or launch angle coaching. If they’re hitting, let them hit. Walker broke a rookie hit record and they sent him down to work on his launch angle and he was never the same. Don’t tell me they didn’t do the same to Gorman.
I don’t understand the hate for JW. The kid is just 23 and was clearly rushed to MLB by the cards. Maybe he never turns it around, but to cut bait on young player who has just over 1000’s ABs doesn’t make sense. Really those ABs should have been at AAA but they pushed him right though that 29
AAA games where he batted .239 and 18 months into his pro career the Cards pushed him up to the majors. Really he should be just trying to break camp this year for the first time. Now they have messed up his swing apparently and started his clock way to soon.
News flash! Gormans make or break season was 3 years ago. And guess what? He broke. Just like all the other Cards prospects the last half decade. Clear that organization out and start fresh from the bottom up.
… that’s what they started when they brought in Bloom to start the rebuild. That didnt start just this offseason.
This site really needs downvotes for silly statements like this one, from someone who obviously won’t take 2 minutes to look at history.
3 years ago was 2023. Gorman that season, in 464 MLB PA’s: 118 wRC+ batting line, 2.2 fWAR. Definitely still some concerns about the swing and miss to his game and subpar defense, but overall value of an average MLB starting player.
The problem is that the batting line over 800 MLB PA’s in 2024/5 has dropped off so much that his overall value has been around replacement level. Possibly fair to say that 2025 was his make or break season, but definitely not 3 years ago.
If he gets 500 at bats he’ll have a realistic chance of striking out 200 times!!!
Gorman and Walker are lacking both in defense and offense , they should have to earn their spots on the opening day roster. My opinion is they suck.
They do and the front office can taste that #1 overall pick next year. That’s why anybody who was a damn has been traded, They want to lose;
1. Worst offensive outfield in MLB
2. No 3rd baseman
3. Zero pitching
Gorman is already broken, .210 hitter with a 40% strikeout rate. Release him.
Gorman isn’t a trade candidate and by the own author’s admission, isn’t on the roster bubble. So why is MLB TRADE Rumors writing about him?