Time runs out on Blaze Jordan as yet another young Cardinals' season is officially over

Blaze Jordan has been one of the fun surprises of the St. Louis Cardinals' 2026 campaign, but unfortunately, the lack of time left on the Cardinals' calendar means the young third baseman has played his last game of the season.

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported today that because of the timing of Jordan's high ankle sprain and his ramp-up to baseball activities not being on pace with the amount of games left, the Cardinals said that Jordan will not play in Major League games for the remainder of this season.

In 58 games and 199 plate appearances for the Cardinals this season, Jordan slashed .247/.276/.382 with three home runs and 28 RBI, managing to carve out a pretty regular role in the Cardinals' infield after there was skepticism internally that he could even handle third base at the Major League level. Jordan experienced his high ankle sprain on August 27th.

Jordan's 2026 campaign had its moments, and while he was certainly a nice surprise at times, it's fair to say that his role with the club in 2027 is yet to be determined.

Blaze Jordan's role with the Cardinals in 2027 is very much up in the air

Jordan's 79 wRC+ is nothing to write home about, but there were certainly positive signs baked into his profile. Jordan posted a very good K% (15.1%), Whiff rate (20.8%), xBA (.266), and both barrelled up the baseball and hit the ball hard at well-above-average rates.

While his expected slugging percentage was higher than you'd think (.425), the lack of power output is something that will need to be improved upon, and his propensity to chase outside the zone (35.7%) and walk very little (3.5%) do not help his profile. Now, we've seen a guy like Alec Burleson overcome similar issues before, so you can't count Jordan out, but it is fair to say that he'll have competition during spring training and later on in the 2027 season.

Thomas Saggese has had himself a big month after spending significant time at Triple-A this season, and he'll be fighting with Jordan for reps at third base. He has significant prospect pedigree in his own right and very much looks the part right now for someone the Cardinals want to play more moving forward.

The Cardinals could also consider bringing in an external option as well. But later in the season, there are some pretty big-name bats in the system who could be knocking on the door.

The Cardinals have somewhat teased the potential of top prospect Rainiel Rodriguez learning third base this offseason, and if he does, he could be an option for the position as soon as Opening Day. Jesus Baez has slugged over 40 home runs this year and may be ready to debut by the middle of the summer. Jordan has guys breathing down his neck, but hopefully that brings the best out of him.

Jordan has already shown the ability to overcome adversity. It was a rocky start to his Cardinals tenure at the plate when the club traded for him last year, and he came out destroying Triple-A pitching this year. Then, before he was called up, the Cardinals were very clear that they believed he did not have Major League quality defense at third base, and yet Jordan has posted +2 outs above average this season.

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