Cardinals Place Surging Young Star On Injured List

The St. Louis Cardinals announced on Saturday they were placing 23-year-old outfielder Jordan Walker on the 10-day injured list with left wrist inflammation. This move was made retroactive to May 29. Utility man Ryan Vilade was selected from Memphis to replace Walker.

This decision comes at the worst possible time for the Cardinals and Walker. For the first time in a long time, the young outfielder seemed to be rolling in the big leagues. He had an OPS near 1.000 over the last five games and had strung together a handful of multi-hit games this month. His exit velocity numbers were trending in the right direction and he seemed to be hitting balls hard every game.

Now he's sidelined for at least a week with a wrist injury and the Cardinals are at risk of his regressing back to the player he was before the outfielder got hot this month.

On the season, the 23-year-old slugger is slashing .215/.273/.310 with three home runs, four doubles, and a triple. He's been getting better in the outfield and still boasts a tremendous arm and power.

Some members of the media have been calling for the Cardinals to cut ties with Walker or potentially option him back to Triple-A, but manager Oli Marmol has been rolling with the youngster, and he seems quite dedicated to that idea.

Once Walker returns to health, the Cardinals will likely slot him back in the lineup as an every day guy. They'll just need to hope he doesn't lose any of his momentum while he's sidelined.