St. Louis Cardinals: Jordan Walden could be bullpen savior

With so many arms hanging around in a strong St. Louis Cardinals pen, one name will stand out if he is healthy.

Meet Jordan Walden, the other guy in that Jason Heyward trade that the St. Louis Cardinals made with the Atlanta Braves in November of 2014. Walden is the potential bullpen epoxy in 2016. That’s right. The righthander could seal the crack in the late inning overusage of fellow fire arms Trevor Rosenthal and Kevin Siegrist, with the latter’s arm turning to Swiss cheese last October.

Hold on, is he healthy? According to the Cardinals, Walden is on his way back to health and should be ready for spring training in two weeks. Take that with a grain of salt but understand that if healthy, Walden could be a huge boost to this pen for a few simple reasons.

First, he will take some of the innings load off Rosenthal and Siegrist, which is better for the long run. Unlike Seung-hwan Oh, he is a proven MLB late inning arm. Unlike Jonathan Broxton, he is actually good and doesn’t have an inflated WHIP. Unlike Sam Tuivailala, Walden is simply experienced. Mike Matheny will only use guys he trust and ones that have been there before.

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Second, Walden has closed games before. He closed 32 games for the Los Angeles Angels in 2011 and can also set up in the 8th or lay down the bridge in the 7th inning. He throws a hard four seamer but also mixes in an effective slider and changeup.

Third, Walden doesn’t rely on a lot of contact, which is good for a guy pitching with a low margin in the late innings with an offense that may score 3-4 runs tops. His fielding independent pitching, which is a great indicator of how good a pitcher really is over time, is 2.76 in 222 innings. Reliever ERA’s aren’t credible but FIP over six seasons can be. Walden has also lowered his WHIP from 1.35 in 2012 to 1.2 in 2014. He has a very good 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings average.

Walden is equally tough on lefties and righties at the plate. In 2014, Walden held LH bats to a .188 average and a .306 slugging percentage. He was even tougher on righties, holding them to a .488 OPS. He doesn’t have problems with a certain side of the plate like Siegrist does. The man can deal with anybody.

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There’s also that hitch he has in his delivery. If you get nervous on the anatomical ramifications it has on Walden, remember the hitter can’t be a big fan of it either. You are itching to break through with a big hit and this guy is basically hopping before he fires a 97 mph fastball at their chest or an 84 mph slider spinning away from their bat like a salsa dancer. Sorry fellas. When he is healthy, Walden is nasty and has been for years.

If he makes it out of camp, the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen is elite and among the best in baseball. Walden offers the coaches a variety of weapons that can be used in three different innings. He is something different and could give the Cards faithful a much needed dessert from the fall out of the Heyward/Shelby Miller trade. It’s not over yet. The dividends haven’t been completely collected.

Jordan Walden can still make an impact in St. Louis.