9 Cardinals who took advantage of their runway in 2025

St. Louis Cardinals' Chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt Jr., along with President Bill DeWitt III and President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak, told fans that the 2025 season would be one of transition. The organization would be shifting from a high(ish)-spending team chock full of veterans to one focused and led by young players.

The organization had a stated goal to find out which young and controllable players could perform well over an entire season. Several players were stated as poster boys this year, foremost of those Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, neither player has taken advantage of these opportunities.

Walker has a .216/.271/.302 slash line for a paltry .573 OPS. He has hit only five home runs on the year, and his strikeout rate of 33% is by far the worst of his career and not an acceptable figure for a player who was supposed to be leading the offensive charge.

Nolan Gorman has fared slightly better, but not by much. Gorman has a .208/.301/.380 slash line for a .681 OPS. He has hit 14 home runs, fourth most on the team this year. He, too, is striking out 33% of the time this year, and his ISO is a career-low .172.

The 2025 season hasn't gone well for either of the organization's runway poster boys, and the team has been hurting because of that. Not only has the 2025 season gone poorly as a result, but the organization must now shift its focus to further down the road.

Another player who wasn't specifically mentioned as a focal point for the reset was outfielder Lars Nootbaar. Nootbaar has a career OPS of .750, but his 2025 figures are a far cry from that. He's slashing .244/.342/.417 this year with 12 home runs and 45 RBIs. His walk rate has taken a hit, and he's chasing and striking out more often. All of this goes against his on-base profile that the Cardinals liked

From the pitching side, Andre Pallante, who will make 31 starts this year and throw over 160 innings, has also failed to rise to expectations. Last year, Pallante proved to be a serviceable starting pitcher, especially in the second half. He finished 2024 with a 3.78 ERA across 121.1 innings and 20 starts. This year, he's posted a 5.29 ERA — fourth worst in the league among qualified starters. He's among the worst in the league at striking out batters and generating whiffs, but his groundball rate, something that has doomed his season to an extent, is in the 98th percentile.

The 2025 season was about finding out what the organization had in certain players. From that perspective, the transition year was a success; we found out quite a bit about several young players. From Jordan Walker to Nolan Gorman to Lars Nootbaar to Andre Pallante, several featured controllable players didn't rise to the occasion this year.

Just because some players didn't take advantage of their chances this year doesn't mean others followed suit. In fact, several young Cardinals answered this call this year and proved that they belong in the majors for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cardinals weren't able to find a true star this year, but they did find several strong players who could be good complements a star for the next few years.

9 St. Louis Cardinals who locked themselves into key roles for 2026.