Nolan Gorman's back issues are a growing concern for the Cardinals

The Nolan Gorman saga has been a frustrating one for the St. Louis Cardinals and their fans. Gorman was one of the Cardinals' few bright spots in 2023, when he hit 27 home runs and held a .478 slugging percentage. It's been downhill for Gorman since then, as he has slugged .403 with 28 home runs since 2024, and his recurring back issues may be the root cause for his reduced production.

Over the past few seasons, Gorman has landed on the injured list several times with back pain, and prior to the All-Star break, his back problems flared up again, leading the Cardinals to place him on the injured list as they returned to action. With back injuries being among the hardest to fix permanently, there is a real possibility that these issues will ruin the career of the once-promising second baseman.

Gorman's back problems are becoming a hindrance for the Cardinals.

Power from a middle infielder is a coveted skill, but Gorman's back woes may have sapped his most valuable trait of hitting boppers. The Cardinals' new hitting coach, Brant Brown, worked with Gorman over the offseason to retool his swing, and this year, Gorman's swing has been significantly slower as he trades power for contact. This makes him a more typical second baseman and one of less value, and the back problems plaguing Gorman may have necessitated this change if he can no longer access the power that made him valuable.

Gorman's desirability to other teams is questionable as a below-average defender who no longer possesses major pop and experiences frequent back injuries, but the Cardinals may need to find a suitor for him soon, even if the return is not what the team hoped for. With JJ Wetherholt waiting in the wings to potentially take over the everyday second base role, Gorman may be rendered irrelevant next season.

Gorman is beginning to traverse the Tyler O'Neill route, where everything is peachy when he's healthy, but that health may be too fleeting to pursue. The Cardinals can't make the same mistake that they did with O'Neill in hoping that Gorman can rediscover a swing that he once had and eventually giving him up for pennies when he continues to struggle. Therefore, if the Cardinals want to acquire anything of significance, they should attempt to find a buyer for Gorman at the deadline this season.

It will be interesting to see how Chaim Bloom, the incoming president of baseball operations for the Cardinals, handles players like Gorman if the second baseman stays put at the deadline. With long-overdue outsider perspective finally in the organization, there may be vastly different opinions between Bloom and John Mozeliak about the future of these young players.

The outlook for Gorman is troublesome, and back problems are not an easy fix. Perhaps another team can find a way to turn Gorman into a masher again, but in St. Louis, Gorman is just about out of runway.