Cardinals Aren't Fully Giving Up On Nolan Gorman Just Yet

The St. Louis Cardinals did the right thing sending Nolan Gorman down to the minors, but they aren't giving up.

Apr 5, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Gorman (16) celebrates in the dugout after scoring a run against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

One thing that has been a breath of fresh air about the 2026 St. Louis Cardinals has been the fact that they are willing to make difficult decisions and rip the Band-Aid off.

The Cardinals entered the season with low expectations, but have done a good job outperforming them. Part of the reason why has been this ability to make the difficult decisions when necessary. For example, the demotion of third baseman Nolan Gorman. The 26-year-old entered the season as the team's starting third baseman and had a significant role. But he was struggling offensively, so the Cardinals pulled the plug and promoted Blaze Jordan to give the team a better chance right now. The same thing can be said about Victor Scott II. He was also struggling and rather than sitting around and hoping things shift, St. Louis sent him down to Triple-A as well.

The Cardinals have put a significant focus on development and also has made tough decisions to give themselves better chances to win games now as well. The Cardinals' front office has done pretty much everything right in Chaim Bloom's first season as the team's president of baseball operations.

The Cardinals Aren't Giving Up On Nolan Gorman

Jun 1, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn (0) is congratulated by third baseman Nolan Gorman (16) after hitting a solo home run against the Texas Rangers during the sixth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

When it comes to Bloom, he has been known throughout his career for his ability to build a sustainable farm system. He helped to do so with the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox before coming to town. On Friday, and spoke to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Gorman specifically and it's clear the team has a plan in place and aren't giving up on the young slugger.

"He’s been assigned to the Cardinals’ lowest affiliate, the Florida Complex League Cardinals, so that he can focus at the spring training complex away from games on the swing that has created such struggles for him in them," Goold wrote..

"Sometimes there might be ways that you can attack certain issues more effectively away from games,” Bloom said to Goold. “All of this is designed to get his swing to a less steep place, where he’s got a much better chance to make quality contact on a variety of pitches."

This concept already feels different than what the team did at points over the last few years. Think of Jordan Walker, for example. Walker had a solid rookie year and slashed .276/.342/.445 with 16 homers and 51 RBIs in 117 games played. And then followed up with two very difficult seasons in 2024 and 2025. One thing that arguably added to this fact was that his role was all over the place. He bounced around between the majors and Triple-A. In 2024, he played in just 51 big league games. In 2025, he played in 111 games. His role was all over the place and for a young guy adjusting to the majors, that couldn't have been easy.

This strategy right now immediately is different than just shipping him to Triple-A and hoping he gets hot. It was the right call to send Gorman down when they did, but the club clearly isn't giving up on him.