Former Cardinals Top Prospect Predicted To Have Breakout Season In 2025

In 2025, the St. Louis Cardinals will be led by a youth-laden talent core as the front office looks to reduce payroll and focus more on player development.

After years of poor front-office decisions, the Cardinals are hitting the reset button. This should hopefully eliminate some of the big-league pressure that several former top prospects have felt since transitioning from St. Louis' farm system to the show.

A former Cardinals first-round draft pick, in particular, has struggled mightily but hopefully, this upcoming season will be the year he breaks out of his shell.

"(Jordan) Walker entered the spring of 2023 as one of the five best prospects in Major League Baseball," Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer wrote Tuesday morning when predicting one potential breakout star for each club in 2025. "If that feels like a long time ago, well, not even reaching replacement-level production in 168 career games will have that kind of effect."

Walker has batted .255 with 53 extra-base hits including 21 home runs, 71 RBIs and a .740 OPS throughout his two-year career with the Cardinals.

"All the same, let's not be too quick to give up on 22-year-old slugging hopefuls who tip the scales at 6'6", 250 pounds," Rymer continued. "And in this case, whatever offseason work that Walker is putting in with new Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown can only help."

Hiring Brown could prove to be one of the Cardinals' best decisions this winter. Since debuting, youngsters such as Nolan Gorman, Lars Nootbaar, and Walker have failed to meet expectations.

Hopefully, Brown's coaching can help rejuvenate St. Louis' lineup, with ace Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, and rising star Andre Pallante leading the way in the rotation this upcoming season.