With Jordan Walker, the Cardinals are repeating a rival's 60-year-old blunder

The St. Louis Cardinals are bungling Jordan Walker's development. That's far from a secret. Drafted out of high school in 2020, Walker possessed limitless raw tools, but four years later, his talents still haven't fully translated to the major leagues. As the Cardinals yank Walker in multiple directions and stunt his growth with disagreements between the front office and management, several similarities are emerging regarding Walker's treatment and the way the Chicago Cubs mishandled eventual Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock.

Cardinals fans originally lambasted the famous trade of Lou Brock from the Cubs for Cardinals pitcher Ernie Broglio. Broglio was a proven starter who was expected to soon recover from an injury, whereas Brock had yet to capitalize on the ability he had shown. And that's where the uncanny similarities between Walker and a young Brock begin.

Brock had displayed power and, of course, speed, but he struggled to polish those tools with the Cubs. On defense, Brock was well below average. In the book "October 1964" by Dave Halberstam, the author quotes Bob Smith, a writer at the Chicago Daily News, who was especially critical of Brock in an article from April of 1963.

“If you have watched all the Cub home games thus far you probably had come to the conclusion that Lou Brock is the worst outfielder in baseball history. He really isn’t, but he hasn’t done much to prove it.”

Brock had only spent one year in the minor leagues, with the St. Cloud Rox, a team that played almost exclusively night games. When he arrived at Wrigley Field, Brock had to adjust to fielding in harsh sunlight and gusting wind. The coaches for the Cubs apparently didn't notice Brock's improvement on defense in night games and those outside of Chicago. Brock would never become an elite outfield defender, but with the Cardinals, his defense improved to average or slightly above in his 20s before declining precipitously as Brock aged.

As Cardinals fans saw in 2023 and 2024, Walker has massive strides that he needs to take in the field, and the Cardinals should continue to give him opportunities in the outfield instead of shifting him to first base, where his cannon arm would go to waste. Walker had never played in the outfield before turning pro, and though Walker's defensive miscues likely aren't attributable to the time and location of the games the way Brock's were, it's dangerous to repeat the theme of dismissing a player as a poor defender when his experience at a position is limited.

During Brock's tenure with the Cubs, he had a habit of trying to do too much. In Brock's article on Baseball Reference, from the Society of American Baseball Research, writer Dave Williams mentioned how much pressure Brock was placing on himself. "Brock’s development at the big-league level was further hampered by his extremely intense attitude; he seemed to press on every play. Teammate Larry Jackson recalled, 'He’d break out in a big sweat just putting on his uniform.'"

Brock would fervently scribble notes about the pitchers he faced, their arsenals and his performance against them. He also jotted down how he believed he should fare in every game, listing a certain number of hits and RBIs as his goal every time he played. Brock felt this drive to succeed because he did not want to return to his roots in the racially charged South.

“I’ve got to make it here. I just can’t go back to Louisiana and Arkansas. I’ve been there, and I know what’s there.”

Walker also holds himself to an incredibly high standard. An article from Rob Rains in 2022 mentioned Walker's tireless dedication to succeed, often at the expense of some time off to relax and clear his mind. In Rains' article, Tyger Pederson, a former hitting coach of the Double-A Springfield Cardinals, emphasized Walker's seemingly unending desire for perfection.

“Every day he’s the kind of kid who you have to say ‘enough is enough.’ He always wants to work. … He wants to be perfect. He’s always striving for his best.”

Walker appeared to be receiving mixed messages on what he was supposed to do with his swing and how to approach the game. The Cardinals were racked with indecision on how to handle him, transporting him between the minor leagues and the majors at periods of time that made no sense. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak and manager Oli Marmol seemingly had different ideas on Walker's role, with Marmol wanting Walker to be a part-time player, only hitting against left-handed pitchers despite having career batting stats that are better against right-handers, and Mozeliak believing Walker needed to play every day if he was going to be in the major leagues.

Much in the way that the Cardinals didn't give Walker ample chances against right-handers when he returned to the major leagues in 2024, preventing him from utilizing his strengths, Brock experienced a lack of opportunities as a member of the Cubs. In Chicago, Brock was seldom given permission to steal bases, thus wasting what would become a historic talent.

The most significant blow to Brock's development came in his first two seasons, 1961 and 1962, when the Cubs implemented the "College of Coaches," where eight coaches would take turns instructing at the Cubs' major league and minor league levels. The experiment was a failure for the Cubs, who limped to a 64-90 record in 1961 and an even more dismal 59-103 finish in 1962.

For Brock and many other Cubs, the College of Coaches merely resulted in befuddlement. In the SABR article, Williams wrote, "One coach stressed the importance of hitting the ball to the opposite field, while another told him to bunt more to take advantage of his speed, and yet another said to pull the ball more because he had shown power."

The Cubs' coaches failed Lou Brock, but through proper instruction from the Cardinals, he became one of the greatest players to ever don the redbird uniform. If the Cardinals are successful in revamping their player development system, there is still hope for Walker to become a force in the middle of the order for many years. If the Cardinals' development reboot doesn't bear the fruits that the organization hopes for and Walker fizzles out or finds success with another team, the Cardinals will be haunted by their own miscues, just as the Cubs were after executing that fateful player swap in 1964.