Did Cardinals rush Walker and Gorman?

[opti mist]

Key to that question if you believe it is true is a follow-up question. How do you rectify that mistake?

For instance, could you fill in the major league roster for 2026 with one-year veteran contracts and have Walker and Gorman spend the year in AAA Memphis under very specific coaching? Probably not, which means they have to receive whatever coaching it takes to get things right at the major league level.

Can a player truly develop in the major leagues when seemingly overwhelmed by major league pitching?

Are there any examples?

I asked Grok:

Here are several well-documented examples of players who posted elite numbers in Triple-A, came up to MLB, struggled badly (often for 2–5 years), but eventually turned into All-Star or near-All-Star caliber major leaguers:
Paul Goldschmidt
2011: .340/.490/.696, 35 HR (AA/AAA combined)
2011–2013: .267 AVG, 95 OPS+ (league-average at best for a 1B)
~2.5 seasons
Turned into perennial MVP candidate (2013 breakout, multiple top-3 MVP finishes)

José Ramírez
2013–2015 AAA: .292/.354/.442
2013–2015 MLB: .233/.291/.353, 71 OPS+, sent down multiple times
2–3 seasons
Became one of the best all-around 3B in baseball (multiple 30-30 seasons, MVP votes every year 2017–2023)

Aaron Judge
2016 AAA: .270/.366/.489, but only 51 games because of injuries
2016 debut: solid; 2017: elite power but .179 AVG in 2nd half + injuries
Effectively 2017–2018 growing pains
2017 ROY, 2019–2022 MVP-level (62 HR in 2022) – the early K rate and injuries made people question if he’d ever stay healthy/consistent

These are probably the cleanest examples of the archetype you’re looking for: guys who looked like they might never figure out big-league pitching (or stay healthy), got labeled “AAAA players” or busts at various points, but eventually put it all together and became stars.

Opti

[mattmitchl44]

If you go back and look at the numbers for Gorman and Walker, a couple of things stand out.

The Cardinals brought Gorman to the majors in 2022 at age 22. At AAA that season, he was producing a nice .275/.330/.585 line in 188 PA. However, his K% was 36.7 and his BABIP was .352 at AAA. His K% clearly foreshadowed the issues he would have in the majors with striking out, and there was zero chance that he could continue anything close to a .352 BABIP to compensate for it (his ML BABIP is .290, which is right on ML average).

The Cardinals brought Walker the majors in 2023 at age 21. At AA the prior season, he was producing a nice .306/.388/.510 line in 536 PA. His K% was a very reasonable 21.6% but his BABIP was an unsustainable .365 at AA. In the majors, his K% has climbed to 31.8% last year (with an average of 26.9% over three seasons), while he BABIP has settled out to a sustainable .310. The terrifying thing about Walker is that his K% has shot up while his isolated power has all but evaporated.

You could potentially see Gorman's track coming, but Walker's is more of a surprise perhaps.

[Jatalk]

Possibly but for your example I assume there were more major league failures than successes. I think you have to go with what you’ve seen and neither player has demonstrated they will be successful MLB players.

[IndCard75]

I don’t know if they were rushed but I don’t think they had enough opportunities to go back down after struggling. For example last year they should have played more. If they weren’t going to play more then send them down. But they didn’t want to send them down because of lack of options. I expect Walker to spend most of 2026 in AAA as that will be his last option. Hopefully with more emphasis on development he can be coached up and become the player we hoped he would be. If Arenado isn’t traded then I can see same thing happening with Gorman. If Arenado and Donovan are traded as speculated then I expect Gorman to be given opportunity to be 3B and improve while at the mlb level.

[Melville]

Walker rushed.
Gorman badly mismanaged.
Next question please.

[OldRed]

Walker rushed.
Gorman badly mismanaged.
Next question please.

Please explain.

[Melville]

Walker rushed.
Gorman badly mismanaged.
Next question please.

Please explain.

In 4 MLB seasons, Gorman has never been allowed to start more than 65 games at any one position, never being given opportunity to establish himself and thrive in any specific role.
The last 2 seasons, he has been shuffled in and out of the batting lineup with no clear plan or rationale.
Even though both seasons the team has publicly committed itself to exactly the opposite.
The team has badly mismanaged and undermined his development - due to stupidity and weakness on the part of Super Slo Mo and The Marmot.
Bottom line: they must give him 600 PA's while playing an assigned defined position - or trade him to a team which will.
What they have done the past 4 years has accomplished nothing and has been a display of gross incompetence on the part of "leaders".
As for Walker, not much explanation is needed.
He was in MLB at age 20, thrown into a position he had played for a month in AA as a means of getting him to STL immediately, and with less than a thousand minor league PA's (none at the AAA level).

[Hoosier59]

Walker wasn’t necessarily rushed, he had a decent Rookie season, but that’s when they decided to mess with him and try and get him to not hit the ball on the ground so much. By the reports we heard late last season, Walker may not always be receptive of those changes, and somewhat stubborn in still trying to do things his way! May hope with Jordan has always been that with maturity he will start to be more receptive and get things figured out.
Gorman knows what he needs to do, but keeps falling back into old habits. It never fails, he will struggle making contact and pulling off the ball. He will adjust, and start hitting to LCF with some authority. The pitchers will adjust to him doing that and work him more inside, where he’ll have some success, and get a couple of big home runs. The pitchers will see this and go back away from him again, but now Gorman has the fever, and wants to keep hitting those bombs, so he starts pulling off again. With him it’s a vicious cycle. He’s never really figured out that to get those pitches he can hammer, he has to be willing to go with the other stuff and prove he can handle those, and not keep pulling off of them. He also needs to learn that he doesn’t have to try to hit the ball as hard as he can with every swing!
Will either player ever figure it out, I’m becoming less confident.

[rockondlouie]

Underdeveloped for sure given how poor Mo's minor league player (un)-development system was prior to C. Bloom's hiring.

[An Old Friend]

Yes, both rushed, Walker egregiously so.

[sikeston bulldog2]

Hard to say. One got a starter’s position and the other a bench role. So how do we measure rushed.

One fact- if Walker hits, combined with JJ Herrera and Willy, we will have a 4-6 who hits.

Then add Winn Scott and Donovan or his replacement, and you got a reasonable offense.

[ramfandan]

Walker was not rushed regarding his offensive ability fir the majors.
At age 20 his rookie year, he had a higher batting average tha BOTH Goldschmidt and Arenado perennial All Stars.
In addition he hit 16 home runs.

[scoutyjones2]

No.

[OldRed]

Walker rushed.
Gorman badly mismanaged.
Next question please.

Please explain.

In 4 MLB seasons, Gorman has never been allowed to start more than 65 games at any one position, never being given opportunity to establish himself and thrive in any specific role.
The last 2 seasons, he has been shuffled in and out of the batting lineup with no clear plan or rationale.
Even though both seasons the team has publicly committed itself to exactly the opposite.
The team has badly mismanaged and undermined his development - due to stupidity and weakness on the part of Super Slo Mo and The Marmot.
Bottom line: they must give him 600 PA's while playing an assigned defined position - or trade him to a team which will.
What they have done the past 4 years has accomplished nothing and has been a display of gross incompetence on the part of "leaders".
As for Walker, not much explanation is needed.
He was in MLB at age 20, thrown into a position he had played for a month in AA as a means of getting him to STL immediately, and with less than a thousand minor league PA's (none at the AAA level).

Again, we disagree.

Gorman has had 1581 plate appearances, 538 K's and a .218 average. He has been given all kinds of opportunities and failed.

And has been a liability in the field with an ongoing back condition.


Walker has had 1039 plate appearances, 280 K's and a .240 average.

[mattmitchl44]

It is certainly possible that they were rushed - if the Cardinals were too intent on trying to win a WS with (for) Arenado, Goldschmidt, etc.

[11WSChamps]

They needed one more bat in lineup with Arenado and Goldschmidt and they needed it in the OF.

Instead of acquiring one they pushed Walker into the lineup.

Gorman's propensity to not make contact was only going to be exacerbated in the major leagues and it has.

The OF has been a glaring hole since Alan Craig got hurt.

That was over a decade ago.

That's inexcusable.