ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -- The trio is coming. Eventually.
Or are they?
The Cardinals' top-hitting prospects all moved up a level in the minor league system Monday, a reflection of their early success in 2021. For an organization that could use some good news about offense, Nolan Gorman, Malcolm Nunez and Jordan Walker are turning heads and inflating ERA's.
Gorman, 21, is the best-known of the bunch, drafted in the first round out of high school as a third baseman in 2018. Three years later, he's been promoted to Memphis (AAA) with an opportunity to play more at second base, his new position. What isn't new is his ability to drive the baseball: Gorman hit .288 with 11 home runs and 27 RBI in 43 games with Springfield (AA).
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Analysis: Gorman has lefty power, but he is a good hitter who will continue to rise as long as he rakes. He'll continue to play second base at Memphis while "still getting some reps at third," according to John Mozeliak, the Cardinals president of baseball operations. No matter what you hear in trade speculation, do not anticipate Gorman being moved. He is the team's second-best prospect, already facing AAA pitching -- and again, he's 21 -- are there high hopes for that young man? Absolutely. Could we see him starting at second base for the major league club within the next year? As the saying goes, the bat will play.
Nunez, 20, was signed around the same time as Gorman (July 2018) as an international free agent out of Cuba... and also as a third baseman. This season, in 35 games with Peoria (high-A), he hit .285. Springfield is a big jump in competition, but he did work there last season during the pandemic at the team's alternate training site.
Analysis: Nunez hit only .183 in Peoria in 2019 after making the jump from rookie ball in Johnson City. He has ten doubles, two triples and three home runs so far this season. It's worth watching the righthanded batter to see his ascent and what might be in store for him down the road.
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Walker, 19, is scorching hot right now, putting up numbers at a ballpark (Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium) where offense generally tends to die. Jupiter is notoriously tough on hitters, but Walker hit .374 with six home runs and 18 RBI in only 27 games at Palm Beach (A). He had a dozen other extra base hits (11 doubles, 1 triple), a .475 on-base percentage, and 24 runs scored in those 27 games. And the third baseman did all of it while missing three weeks with a wrist injury. He'll take his talents to Peoria, where he'll see an uptick in pitching talent.
Analysis: Mozeliak, in speaking to reporters Monday, said this about Walker: "Gosh, it's enormously exciting. You think of players at that age that have put up those kind of numbers since I've been here, you probably would say Albert Pujols. And the other one would be Oscar Taveras."
Hello.
Taveras, who died in a car accident in 2014, was a top-five prospect in all of baseball that year. He made his MLB on May 31, 2014 at the age of 22. Pujols, of course, needs no introduction. He became perhaps the greatest hitter of his generation.
Translation: Walker is not going anywhere.
And that's the issue the Cardinals face right now in the trade market. With the deadline on July 30, we're a month away. It's a seller's market, Mozeliak reminds us, with multiple teams looking for help and the asking price extremely high. The Cardinals aren't interested in trading away any of their top prospects for short-term fixes, even if that pitching is elite.
"We definitely have a win-now mentality, but we're not going to do so at the cost of our future," Mozeliak said. "Any type of deal we do is going to be very tricky. Trying to thread the needle for that deal? It could be challenging."
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