St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker will be sidelined at least a week after suffering a minor knee injury – the result of his stepping on a sprinkler head while running down a fly ball during Tuesday’s spring training game against the Washington Nationals.
Here’s a look at the play, which took place at the Nationals’ spring training facility:
A subsequent MRI showed no structural damage to his left knee but did show irritation of the knee. “It is what it is,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told reporters on Wednesday. “We’ll let it calm down for a week and then we’ll ramp that baby back up, and we’ll still have time to see him in plenty of [spring training] games.”
The team expects Walker to be able to return to action in time to play multiple spring training games before Opening Day,” Marmol said. On another level, though, the lost time could prove significant, as Walker this spring is working to ingrain offseason changes to his swing.
The 22-year-old Walker is expected to be the Cardinals’ starting right fielder in the upcoming season. Across parts of two MLB seasons, he’s batted .255/.317/.423 with 21 home runs in 168 games. Walker isn’t far removed from being one of the top prospects in all of baseball, and his development as a hitter is an organizational priority in St. Louis as the club pivots to a longer-term focus and an emphasis on developing young in-house talents.
Read the full article here
