Before you immediately run to the comments and simply put “YES”, hear me out. The St. Louis Cardinals have spent the entire offseason actually committing to the (re)build, but have done so by trading away high-priced and/or underperforming veterans and restocking the minor league pitching staff. Those deals have created opportunities around the diamond, except one position group has been completely untouched by Chaim Bloom and his staff.
The St. Louis Cardinals outfield has something to prove in 2026 and beyond
The trade of Willson Contreras meant that utility Silver Slugger Award winner Alec Burleson would move to first base full-time, the position where he is the best fit for the long-term, although he held his own in the grass. That cleared up a potential “logjam” in the outfield, so the current setup seems to be Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott II, and Jordan Walker from left to right. All three of these players come with their own questions as they each enter different stages of their careers. The idea for the look into the outfield came while perusing the cesspool of Twitter, and I came across a Phillies account posting their thoughts on the Philadelphia outfielders.
While the Cardinals team is definitely young, the roster does contain plenty of major league caliber talent under the age of 28 years old, which we heard all of Michael McGreevy, Thomas Saggese, and Andre Pallante point to being a potential strength of this team. In the outfield, that youth continues, with Nootbaar being the elder statesman at 28, but all three of the expected starters have gained major league experience despite their ages. Noot has played in over 500 games, with Walker playing another 279, and Scott putting 191 games under his belt as a 24-year-old.
That experience has not come with production, for really any of those three outfielders just yet, but I understand how those on the outside (or even inside) could be so down on the entire group. Last year, the Cardinals outfield finished 24th in the league (13th in NL) in terms of fWAR, and that could have been way worse if not helped by VSII’s Gold Glove caliber defense in center. With that entire group returning, and the only supplemental pieces coming from Nathan Church and 28-year-old rookie Bryan Torres, it makes sense that the rest of the league could be seen as being stronger than St. Louis in the outfield. Further behind is 40-man addition Joshua Baez, but he has not seen a pitch beyond Double-A, which I guess does not mean all that much since that’s the same level that Scott reached before his rushed promotion to the majors.
Looking at each position brings what questions each player has to face in 2026 as they look to either rebuild their careers or take a step forward into the future. For Nootbaar specifically, he might have the largest gray area surrounding him in terms of his St. Louis Cardinals tenure. The oldest of the group, Noot is entering his sixth season for the big league team and has had an issue with taking advantage of the opening in the outfield to turn it into a guaranteed full-time starting spot. This past season, there was plenty of hype surrounding the outfielder as Baseball Savant was full of red and his offseason hitting videos showed some gaudy hitting numbers. That momentum followed him into the new campaign and he was hitting .263 with an .834 OPS through April, thanks to five homers and 25 walks.
May brought on Noot’s first struggles of the season, as his patience at the plate waned (or pitchers were attacking more aggressively) as he drew just eight walks and saw his strikeout rate skyrocket from 15% to 25%. The patience came back in June, walking 12 more times, but the strikeouts kept coming, this time surpassing a 30% K-rate for the month, which led to his monthly numbers dropping to a .596 OPS and a .169 batting average. Then, the Noot injury story continued.
At the end of June, he missed a couple games with a rib injury, came back, then missed another game, before sitting out two more games in July and eventually hitting the injured list on July 13. He sat out for 14 games and made his return to the lineup in August where he attempted to regain his footing from earlier in the season. Right as he got started again, his knee acted up, causing him to miss an additional two games. In a lost season, Noot opted to play the rest of the season, although he may have been hampered by the malady for the last month and a half. To end the year, Noot hit .205 in September to put his end of the season line at .234/.325/.361 for a season-long OPS of .686.
Now, Noot is rehabbing his double heel surgery and the team has not said much in terms of his recovery process. At the time of the procedures, Bloom and Marmol both noted that there is no timetable for his return as the organization wants to make sure he is fully healthy when he returns to the field.
Moving up the middle, Victor Scott II has next to nothing to prove with the glove, as he was named a finalist for the Gold Glove award in center. The story for VSII, though, is that his approach and performance at the plate has to tick up if he is to be an everyday option in the lineup. So far in his short career, Scott has a .206/.283/.293 slash line for a .576 OPS and a 67 wRC+.
Again, do not jump straight to the comments yet because yes, I do know that VSII’s value comes from his glove and whatever he provides with the bat is a bonus. To me, though, the bat has to do something to make it palatable to keep putting him in the lineup everyday. Again, again, I do not want to be unfair to Scott, because he was absolutely rushed to the major leagues after the late Spring Training injury to Dylan Carlson and the team excited about what Scott’s gamebreaking speed could do for the lineup in 2024. At the time of his promotion, he had yet to see a pitch above Double-A, but was coming off a .303 batting average and 94 stolen bases after spending equal time in Peoria and Springfield.
However, that early promotion brought quick, expected struggles as VSII worked to learn the major league game as a rookie. The time spent on the big league roster was a valuable learning experience as he had to figure out how to adjust on the go at the plate, play elite defense, and still try to be a difference maker on the bases without trying to push it too much.
To be fair (Letterkenny anyone?), Scott did show some growth at times in 2025. His overall season line was an improvement from that rookie year, but he still measured out as a 76 wRC+ and among the 22 center fielders with at least 450 plate appearances last year, his offensive value came in at 18th in baseball. He improved his walk rate and strikeout percentage, but at 24%, he will have to find a way to simply put the ball in play (but please no more 2-0 or 0-2 bunt attempts) and use his legs to wreak havoc. In the grass, his 9.2 FanGraphs defensive value put him third in the league behind Ceddanne Rafaela and Pete Crow-Armstrong. In total, his fWAR came out to 1.7, which bumped him up to 14th among qualified center fielders.
Admittedly, I have been critical of Scott’s performance at the plate but do still understand he is still shy of his 25th birthday and has not had the best development path to this point. VSII has not used that as an excuse, though, as both he and manager Oli Marmol credited his failures to aiding his offseason work and has high expectations for himself this season and beyond.
And finally, everyone’s favorite talking point since 2022: Jordan Walker, the right fielder.
In my attempt to avoid rehashing what everyone already knows, Walker has not come near the expectations the league set for him coming into the 2023 season when he was ranked as a top 5 prospect in all of baseball, with a power and speed combo that could make him a perennial All-Star.
For his career, those standards have not been met (yet), as Walker has an 89 wRC+ over his first 279 games, which honestly is not as low as I, or probably a lot of Cardinal Nation, thought it would be. It is still a far cry from the .898 OPS, 18 homers, and 22 stolen bases Walker put up in Springfield as a 20-year-old, but that is enough to still give me some hope for what we could see eventually.
For one, I have a hard time believing someone with his talent can just forget how to hit, especially since we know he was constantly working through swing changes while also learning a new position at the major league level. That is obviously a big ask of a 21-year-old who was also rushed to the bigs, but his quick promotion was a tad more understandable than that of VSII.
Regardless of your thoughts of Walker right now, I personally think it is hard to argue that he should not receive the bulk of the playing time in the outfield to start the year. The mismanagement of Walker’s development to this point leaves his with just one option year remaining, despite being just 23-years-old. To maximize their flexibility for this year and beyond, the Cardinals likely want to avoid burning that minor league option and finally get a full evaluation on the former first round pick.
It may seem like beating a dead horse, but Walker’s 2025 season was his worst so far. Among the 38 right fielders who had at least 350 plate appearances last season, Walker finished… 38th in terms of fWAR and offensive value. After a step forward on defense last season, he regressed slightly, but bumped up to 26th in baseball by defensive value. We are approaching that time of the year where managers and teammates compliment everyone about being in the best shape of their lives, and I would be surprised if we do not hear Walker being a constant talking point around the organization.
Currently, FanGraphs projects all three outfielders to play in at least 125 games and has all of them taking a step forward in different ways. The annual ZiPS DC projection adjusts for expected playing time and has Walker taking a major leap but still below the superstar expectations placed on him as a minor leaguer. ZiPS shows Walker putting up an 88 wRC+ and hitting 14 homers, while raising his average to .232, swiping 10 bags, and cutting his strikeout rate. As sad as it may be, that type of performance could get fans back to believing in Walker and giving him another full season before throwing in the towel. It could become another vicious cycle of repeated outfield mishaps, but there’s no better time than 2026 for Walker to put it all together.
Thank you if you have stuck with me thus far! I appreciate all of the comments and feedback from everyone and do my best to engage in the conversation on Sundays. With that said, I want to take the last paragraph to plug my other work (with the blessing of Doc). I hope you check it out, follow if you please, and share your thoughts there as well!
Cardinals on My Time: My individual podcast where I talk Cardinals when it fits into my schedule and there’s something I want to talk about. I try to have a wide range of guests, from fans, to media, as well as having Ryan Loutos on as my first pro guest. I’d be happy to talk to any of you about joining in as well, after a little “screening” process! And if you have not already, follow me on Twitter as well. I am more active during the season, but try to do more than just emotionally tweet during games. I also plan to do some giveaways of baseball cards and old stadium giveaways that will take place over there.
Redbird Rundown: I joined here full-time recently and it was honestly the three brothers on the podcast that got me into giving the Cardinals content game a go. This is where I will be most consistently. They gave me a chance to be a guest for the first time and now I am working with them to put together a Cardinal hub of sorts. We post every Sunday evening and have started a YouTube channel as well as on Twitter and Instagram. Tonight, we talk about ZiPS projections. Just this week, I added my brother to the team and he began a Random Cardinal of the Week segment with Khalil Greene. That will post on Fridays.
I don’t necessarily enjoy selling things (including myself), but I do hope to see you over on those other platforms in addition to your constant support here on VEB! My weekly articles will end with brief links to any show updates, so feel free to zoom right by those on your way to the comment section!
Have a great week!
