Cardinals Rising Star Speaks Out For First Time Following Demotion

The St. Louis Cardinals lineup has been the biggest issue for the club all season and is the main reason why they're sitting comfortably in last place in the National League Central.

Following the loss of Wilson Contreras to injury, superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado is the only healthy player who has not struggled at the plate this season -- even he is not quite performing to his career standards.

The difficulties at the plate got so bad for rising star Jordan Walker that he was demoted to Triple-A Memphis. Walker finally spoke out about his struggles to kick off the season.

"Everybody presses at the big league level at some point," Walker told the media Thursday, as transcribed by Fox 2 News' Mike Ceide. "Pressing, you want to hit, you want to perform. Sometimes you get out of yourself a little bit and I think that’s just what happened a little bit, for sure. Reps are always good and if that was the way to get it, Memphis, I’m all for it, man. I just want to get opportunities to hit and get out of it like I know I will.”

Walker is batting .281 with two extra-base hits including three RBIs, a .722 OPS and only four strikeouts in 32 at-bats through nine games since being demoted to the minors.

The 21-year-old was in a major slump to begin his second season at the big league level -- similar to how he began 2023 as well.

Hopefully, the young outfielder just needs to calm his nerves and can fine-tune his swing to get it back to where it was last year -- posting a .276/.342/.445 slash line with 16 home runs and 37 extra-base hits in 117 games played for St. Louis.

The Cardinals should have a bright future with Walker but it appears one season wasn't enough for him to adjust. It's great to see that he seems to understand what went wrong and is confident in his ability to get back to succeeding at the plate.

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