3 reasons why Jordan Walker remains essential to the Cardinals' future

Other fan bases have speculated the Cardinals' could trade away Jordan Walker, but there are many reasons that will not be happening

It's really easy for fanbases to move on to the next hot commodity and quickly lose their patience with other young talents. St. Louis Cardinals fans are no exception to this.

Think about how Nolan Gorman has been thought of over the last calendar year. This time last year, Gorman was making his MLB debut, fresh off of hitting a ton of home runs in Triple-A and being heralded by many fans as the next young player to take the league by storm. By that offseason, he had been thrown in so many trade proposals and seemed like the odd man out in the opinion of many. Now, Gorman looks like an elite slugger in just his second MLB season.

Jordan Walker made his Major League debut on Opening Day for the Cardinals and had a pretty solid start to his big league career. In the 20 games he appeared in, he slashed .274/.321/.397 with 2 HR and 11 RBI. He was the first player born in 2002 or later to debut in the Majors, and although he had some holes, especially defensively, he showed he belonged.

St. Louis decided to send Walker down to Memphis to work on his swing, hoping to unlock more of the power potential that he just hasn't fully tapped into yet. While I would say most fans have not given up on Walker by any means, some have already lowered their expectations for him a bit, and fans of other teams now think he's a guy their clubs can target.

Here are three reasons why Jordan Walker remains an essential part of the Cardinals' future, and I don't see any way they trade him this season.

Jordan Walker's ceiling is too high for the Cardinals to trade him away

Jordan Walker is the number-one prospect in all of baseball right now. That is a big deal. The Cardinals have had top prospects like Nolan Gorman and Dylan Carlson in recent years, but Walker is in a class of his own from a talent evaluation perspective.

Walker projects to be a true five-tool player for the Cardinals. He has already shown himself to be a very advanced hitter for his age. Walker hits the ball extremally hard and should hit a lot of doubles and home runs once his swing is refined. His speed is among some of the best in the game, giving him an advantage on the field and on the base paths. He has one of the strongest arms we have seen in a while, and while his defense was a low point this year, he is just now learning how to play the outfield and should be an above-average defender, at least, in the next few years.

Walker just turned 21 years old the other day. Most players his age do not even sniff the big leagues, even if they are top prospects. There is a reason Walker was able to fast track his way to St. Louis, the Cardinals see legitimate superstar potential in him.

You don't give up on a young talent like that, and that talent is far too valuable to part with in a trade, even for a need as big as front-line pitching. Yes, the Cardinals' chances of winning a World Series in 2023 may be significantly boosted by the acquisition of an ace, but the long-term future of the club is in much better hands if they hold onto Walker and find another way to address that issue.

The positional fit of Walker is also a huge reason you hold onto him, which I'll talk about next.

Their patience with Nolan Gorman paid off, and it will with Jordan Walker too

As we talked about earlier, Gorman's rookie year saw him post a .721 OPS, just slightly higher than the .718 OPS mark that Walker had in his first 20 games. Gorman had major issues to work on, like his strikeout rate and his ability to hit the high fastball, and used the offseason to make those necessary adjustments.

Walker's time in Memphis right now gives him the ability to work on his flaws while not having to worry about winning baseball games. While it's no guarantee that Walker turns out to be a star in this league, I would rather take my chances on his upside than write him off or use him as trade bait.

The beautiful part about Walker's situation is that, for all the hype surrounding him, the Cardinals don't really even "need" him to be all that he could be right now. If Walker gets another shot with the big league club this year, they already have plenty of quality big league bats to cover the majority of their lineup. Nootbaar, Goldschmidt, Gorman, Arenado, Contreras, Donovan, DeJong, and Edman all give them the lineup depth needed to be a top offense in baseball, so everything else that Walker brings is gravy.

Keep being patient with Walker. He has all of the talent in the world, great character, and is primed to make a major impact, sooner or later.