Jordan Walker couldn't have received a bigger indictment from Cardinals coaches

It's one thing to be critical of a player's performance, but questioning their preparation is about as bad as it gets.

Don't get me wrong, I had no issue with St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol and hitting coach Brant Brown sharing these comments about Jordan Walker on KMOX Tuesday, but man, it does increase my concern regarding Walker's future to an all-time high.

Cardinals coaches are fed up with Jordan Walker's lack of urgency in his preparation.

During Marmol's weekly spot on the Gashouse Gang, he brought Brown along with him to discuss the state of the Cardinals' offense and position player core. Bernie Miklasz wasted no time asking about Walker's struggles, and both Brown and Marmol were candid about their frustration with how Walker's preparation continues to lag even as his results have tumbled.

I highly encourage listening to the full conversation here when you get a chance, but Marmol's candid comments on Walker did not end after that interview. In his office, speaking with reporters later in the day, Marmol doubled down on his desire to see Walker show more urgency with his struggles at the plate.

I get that some reading this are already ready to critique Marmol for calling out Walker publicly, but just for a moment, please consider two things:

1. We ask for transparency from the organization all the time. Let's not bite them for that when they give it to us.

2. It has been widely reported for years that Walker has not taken well to coaching behind the scenes, and at some point, if private pushing isn't working, perhaps public pressure will.

Walker owns a .220/.274/.313 slash line and is 34% below league average at the plate according to wRC+ on the year. He has just five home runs in 328 plate appearances, and he's now worth -1.1. fWAR for the year. If Walker were a qualified hitter, his .587 OPS would rank dead last.

It's been bad, and that follows up a sophomore campaign where Walker was also far below league average at the plate and struggling mightily to make the changes he needed to in order to be successful in the majors. It's sad to see a player as talented as Walker struggling this much, but until he's ready to really make changes, this is where he'll remain.

Until further notice, I officially have zero confidence that Walker is going to turn this around. To me, it's hard to believe that someone who has struggled as badly as he has and has had this many resources poured into him will figure things out if he himself still refuses to change, even at this low point. Maybe this horrible 2025 campaign will be the kick in the butt that Walker needed to turn his career around, but for now, things look bleak.