I’m a Memorial Day guy when it comes to first judging a Major League Baseball team.
Regardless of a fast or slow start, and early season pitching and hitting failure or success, I reserve judgement until the unofficial start of summer.
Exhibit A in 2025 are the St. Louis Cardinals. Five weeks before Memorial Day, the Cardinals were six games under .500, in fourth place in the National League Central, down and out.
There was more talk of “fire Ollie Marmol,” than there was of contention for the division crown.
What a difference a month makes, right?
On Memorial Day, the Cardinals stood at 30-23, just two games behind the Chicago Cubs. The Redbirds lost 5-2 to the Baltimore Orioles to fall three back, but just five NL teams had at least 30 wins.
As mentioned in previous columns, the Cardinals are a Major League Baseball oddity in that they start three Black players. Some teams have zero African American players on the roster, let alone in the starting eight.
Outfielder Victor Scott has been a revelation. He doesn’t lead the team in any batting category, yet he has been the catalyst for success.
Along with Gold Glove-caliber defense, Scott began the week hitting .273 with two home runs, 19 RBIs and a team-high 16 stolen bases.
Entering 2025, his career bat average (306 at-bats) was just .229. He peaked at .284 during last week’s sweep over visiting Arizona.
Scott also coined the Cardinal’s rallying cry of “we’re youngry,” earlier this season when attempting to say, “young and hungry,” during an interview.
While he has dealt with a balking back and wrist injuries, second year starting shortstop Masyn Winn also posted a solid pre-Memorial Day effort.
Winn hit .257 with six home runs and 17 RBIs while missing 11 of 53 games. He also has cut down on careless errors.
Which brings us to Jordan Walker.
Let’s travel back to the bottom of the seventh inning of last Saturday’s game between St. Louis and Arizona. Minutes earlier, Jordan misplayed a sinking line drive and allowed three runs to score on a suspect triple. The goof left the score tied at 4-4 and the Diamondbacks added a run to take a 5-4 lead.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Walker came up to bat with two men on. His clutch double gave the Cardinals a 6-5 lead and led to a vital win.
I had Walker on a plane back to Triple-A Memphis before Memorial Day following that disastrous outfield play. He redeemed himself with that game-saving double but Walker, unfortunately, can’t continue on his current pace and hope to remain in St. Louis.
Following the Memorial Day loss, in which he struck out three times, Walker was hitting a weak .207 with three home runs and 20 RBIs. The Cardinals have vowed to give young players a full season to prove themselves, but at some point, enough is enough.
The Reid Roundup
The Cardinals MVP as of Memorial Day was Brendan Donovan. He was batting .328 with a team-leading 66 hits, 93 total bases and 18 doubles… For the remainder of the week, all funds generated for Stifel Charity Classic Grounds and Clubhouse ticket sales will be donated to the American Red Cross of Missouri to support St. Louis area tornado relief and recovery…A wild prediction: Tiger Woods will make his PGA Champions Tour debut at the 2026 Stifel Classic…Rumor has it (with photos) that Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders purchased a $500,000 Rolls Royce after receiving his $447,000 signing bonus. Daddy Deion Sanders posted online “LIES.”…Jordan Poole of the Washington Wizards, who posted career highs in points (20.5), steals (1.3), and three-point percentage (37.8%), will likely be traded before or during the upcoming NBA Draft.