Cardinals smash the panic button again by demoting another former top prospect

The St. Louis Cardinals are a mess right now. Just one day after demoting former top prospect Jordan Walker, the Cardinals dealt the same fate to second baseman Nolan Gorman.

In a corresponding move that brought infielder Jose Fermin back to the club, the Cardinals send goodbye to Gorman and his crazy strikeout issues, hoping that he can find his groove again by facing some Triple-A pitching for the foreseeable future. Gorman is slashing just .203/.271/.400 with an 87 wRC+ this season, and his 37.6% strikeout rate would send an MLB record if he does not get the chance to lower it later this season.

Many, including myself, have been calling for a Gorman demotion for a while now. Gorman clearly could not figure out his issues at the MLB level this year, and it was past time to let him get a run in Memphis to sort things out. His horrible play at the plate was not only hurting his own development, but he was also having a negative impact on the big league club.

It got to the point recently where Gorman could not even be trusted most days, so he was getting less frequent starts and was rarely considered as a pinch hitter off the bench. While I believe the Cardinals are likely going to miss the playoffs again, if they wanted any hope of making a run, it was going to require this kind of move.

Nolan Gorman is still a valuable piece, but his demotion was much needed

Look, I still really like Gorman. He's not just some random player that we think has potential, he has shown the ability to be a force at the plate for sustained stretches at the big-league level. The Cardinals should not give up on Gorman as a player - but they also could no longer afford to have him floundering in St. Louis.

Strikeouts have always been an issue for Gorman, but never this bad. People criticize his streakiness all the time, but this funk he is in is not a result of streakiness, something is clearly broken with him at the plate right now. Whether it's a mental thing, a physical thing, a mechanical thing, or all of the above, he needs to figure it out while he is down in Memphis.