The Cardinals introduced that outfielder Jordan Walker has been positioned on the crew’s 10-day injured checklist (retroactive to Could 29) attributable to left wrist irritation. Proper-hander Gordon Graceffo has additionally been optioned to Triple-A, whereas arising from Triple-A are right-hander Roddery Munoz and utilityman Ryan Vilade. In Vilade’s case, his minor league contract was chosen to the Playing cards’ energetic roster.
The IL journey comes at a very inopportune time for Walker, as he was beginning to warmth up after an prolonged droop. After posting only a .502 OPS over his first 138 plate appearances of the season, Walker had hit .333/.353/.545 over his final 34 journeys to the dish. These ups and downs have come over the primary true prolonged stint of on a regular basis taking part in time Walker has had in his three MLB seasons, as he has been the Cardinals’ beginning proper fielder for almost all of the 2025 season.
St. Louis got here into the yr dedicated to discovering taking part in time for a few of its youthful gamers, and Walker has remained a lineup common regardless of his struggles. With Walker now sidelined, Alec Burleson or Brendan Donovan may see extra time within the outfield, and Donovan shifting extra into the outfield combine may open up second base for Nolan Gorman.
Vilade’s multi-positional skill also needs to web him some appears to be like because the 26-year-old is on the verge of his first large league motion of 2025. The Cardinals signed Vilade to a minor league deal throughout the offseason, and he has so far performed all three outfield positions in addition to first, second, and third base over 48 video games with Triple-A Memphis. Past his contributions to the depth chart, Vilade has additionally drawn consideration together with his bat, as he’s hitting .280/.375/.476 over 192 PA with Memphis.
Vilade’s MLB resume consists of 20 profession video games — three with the Rockies in 2021 and 17 with the Tigers final season, with 56 PA and a .416 OPS to indicate for that small style of the Present. His minor league numbers are naturally way more strong, with Vilade producing persistently higher offense over components of 4 seasons now of Triple-A ball.
