5 puzzling decisions by the St. Louis Cardinals in the past 2 years

Fans of the St. Louis Cardinals have seemingly had a better grasp on how to run the organization these past two years than the front office and coaching staff have. I'm not talking about which reliever to use when or whether or not the hit and run was implemented at an ideal time. Instead, I'm talking about larger roster decisions that the team has utterly botched since the beginning of the 2023 season.

These poor roster and organizational decisions are at the crux of the mediocrity that the Cardinals have produced during this time period. Be it promoting young players, not optimizing player usage at the major league level, or changing a player's position on a whim, the Cardinals have made several costly mistakes that have puzzled fans lately.

Puzzling Decision #1: Jordan Walker debuting on Opening Day 2023.

Jordan Walker was an elite hitter and a top prospect prior to the 2023 season. He destroyed Double-A pitching with a .306/.388/.510 slash line in 2022, and he was a consensus top-three prospect in all of baseball that year. His major flaw at the time, however, was his inability to play a sound corner outfield. A former third baseman, Walker transitioned to the outfield at the outset of the 2022 minor league season.

He worked diligently with Cardinal legend Willie McGee, but there were still clear gaps in his route running before 2023. Despite these defensive shortcomings and zero experience above Double-A, the Cardinals found it prudent to have Walker debut on Opening Day 2023. He was only 21 years old at the time.

Walker started his career off with a bang, as he had a 12-game hit streak to start the season. Following that streak, however, Walker had some serious struggles. He was demoted to Triple-A Memphis that year to work on his swing for a month, as he was clearly not ready for the highest level of baseball as a 21-year-old.

If the Cardinals had waited to promote their former top prospect, the logjam in the outfield (Dylan Carlson, Tyler O'Neill, Lars Nootbaar, and Alec Burleson) wouldn't have been as apparent. Also, Walker would have had more time to gain confidence offensively while finding his footing on the defensive side of the game. Rather than letting a player fully develop, the Cardinals promoted him prematurely, and they're still feeling the ill effects of that decision.