Inside The Cardinals

Cardinals Suffer Major Injury Scare Involving 22-Year-Old Phenom

The Cardinals had some bad luck on Tuesday
Mar 4, 2025; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker (18) looks on after being struck out against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. Mandatory Credit: Rich Storry-Imagn Images
Mar 4, 2025; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker (18) looks on after being struck out against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. Mandatory Credit: Rich Storry-Imagn Images | Rich Storry-Imagn Images

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The St. Louis Cardinals had an injury scare on Tuesday.

Spring Training action is in full swing and the Cardinals certainly didn't have the day they hoped for on Tuesday. Cardinals 22-year-old outfielder was forced to leave the team's clash against the Washington Nationals due to left knee pain, as shared by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold.

"Jordan Walker left the game here in West Palm Beach with pain in his left knee, per Cardinals," Goold said. "He will be re-evaluated once the team returns to Jupiter to determine cause and severity. He left after one at-bat and then catching a fly ball in right field in 2nd inning."

At this point, we aren't going to really know more until he is re-evaluated, but it's at least a pretty big scare. Walker is expected to play a large role with St. Louis in 2024. He's just 22 years old and had a great rookie year, but didn't have as much success last year. As a rookie in 2023 he hit 16 home runs, drove in 51 runs, and slashed .276/.342/.445 in 117 games played.

He struggled out of the gate last year and the Cardinals sent him down to the minors and he didn't have the same opportunity afterward.

MLB.com's John Denton shared a video of what could've been the play Walker tweaked his knee.

Walker is someone who can play a large role with the team for years to come and that likely will start in 2024. Hopefully, his knee is alright and it was just a small tweak.

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Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick also is pursuing an MBA at Brandeis University. After quickly rising as one of the most productive writers on the site, he expanded his reach to write for Baseball Essential, a national baseball site in Sports Illustrated Media Group. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu