The 2023 Major League Baseball season is right around the corner and I could not be more excited. The St. Louis Cardinals have as much hype and upside as they’ve had in years coming off a solid 2022 regular season and an underwhelming postseason sweep.
The Cardinals enter 2023 with a STACKED lineup with the potential to have one of the most lethal batting orders in the MLB.
First baseman Paul Goldschmidt is coming off arguably the best season of his career, earning NL MVP honors, and third baseman Nolan Arenado enters the year following a third-place finish in MVP voting while also earning his 10th consecutive Rawling Gold Glove award.
Despite the loss of future Hall of Famers Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols, the Cards still have a lot to look forward to this season.
Guys Dylan Carlson and Lars Nootbaar are poised for breakout seasons while middle infielders Tommy Edman, Brendan Donovan (first-time Gold Glove recipient), and Nolan Gorman provide the best defensive protection in the National League. Pairing these likes with corner infield defenders like Goldy and Nolan basically solidifies the Redbirds as the best defensive team in the MLB.
Now if I wasn’t tooting our horn enough, may I interest you in some of the most exciting young talents the majors have to offer?
20-year-old phenom and MLB top-prospect Jordan Walker has done a little bit of everything this spring to ensure he finds his way onto the Cardinals Opening Day roster. And if the fans had any say, he’s almost certainly locked up a spot in the Opening Day lineup.
Now, is this an over-exaggeration? One could make that argument. But there is no denying Walker is ready to face big-league arms this season.
This spring, Walker has pummeled opposing pitchers, batting .340 with three home runs and nine RBIs while notching an impressive .956 OPS. The young star’s strikeout rate is still a bit high with 10 SOs in 53 at-bats, but to say these stats aren’t promising would be a flat-out lie.
And Walker has impressed more than just the STL faithful, The Athletics’ Keith Law has Walker ranked as the No. 5 prospect heading into 2023, moving up 25 spots from No. 30 last season.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel is also high on the newly transitioned outfielder, ranking Walker No. 14 in his annual top-100 MLB prospect rankings. \
In addition to the hype around Walker, the Cardinals also fins themselves with a plethora of middle infield talent heading into 2023.
20-year-old Masyn Winn has also turned heads and impressed in Cardinals camp this spring.
Winn is a former pitcher-turned-shortstop that can hurl the ball across the diamond at 99 MPH while also raking like a .300 hitter at the plate.
In 40 plate appearances this spring, Winn is batting .325 with a .906 OPS, driving in nine RBIs with two homes runs and one triple.
Winn and Walker each have put together convincing Arizona Fall League and Spring Training campaigns, making the decision on where to assign them come next week harder by the day.
It still remains to be seen whether Walker will get the Opening Day roster, or even lineup, nod, but fans and baseball enthusiasts are much more optimistic now, than say 30 days ago.
The struggles of Tyler O’Neill in 2022 and this spring (2-14) have placed second-year skipper Oli Marmol in a tight spot as he and his staff contemplate which players to go with on Opening Day against Toronto.
Could we see Walker in right field, Carlson in center and Nootbaar in left? Or possibly Noot in center, Carlson in left or a combination of Walker/O’Neill in right? Only time will tell.
But if we’re sure about one thing as of this moment, its this.
Baseball is back.
And I’m fired the fuck up.
Let’s Go Birds.