Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals’ Dustin May SHOWCASES Electric Stuff, Jordan Walker's STRUGGLES Continue

Starting point is 00:00:00 After a day off, the boys were back on the diamond and all eyes. We're on starter, Dustin May, and Jordan Walker's return to the lineup. This is Locked on Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. And they're Cardinals fans of J.D. Havert, a former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinals fan. And welcome to another episode of Lockedon Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Starting point is 00:00:34 number one sports podcast network. Thank you to our everydayers who continue to be here with us day in and day out. Looking forward to the regular season for the newcomers. Welcome in. This is a show serving cardal nation and giving you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by MLB the show 26. Visit MLB the dot show slash locked on and use code locked on. LOCKEDON to unlock a pack for Diamond Dynasty.

Starting point is 00:00:59 Available now on PlayStation 5 Xbox Series S and X and Nintendo Switch. which rated E for everyone. Happy St. Paddy's Day to those of you who are celebrating, I do plan on having a Guinness tonight while watching the WBC finals game between Venezuela and the United States. Got a green hat on here representing my hometown of St. Louis and where I went to high school, the Pattenville Pirates, Northside. Shout out to my fellow Pattenville alumni who are out there. On today's show, we've got Cardinal Confessions with your input on all things going on with the team. I'll give you two guesses what everybody wants to talk about, both of them play in the outfield.

Starting point is 00:01:38 But we start today with the game that took place on Tuesday against the Nationals. And if you were listening to this game while driving to maybe some St. Patty's Day festivities, I hope you did not off and do any damage to your car, yourself, or anything else. Because my, oh my, what a snooze fest it was. It was, ugh. Not fun. And this was one of the games that was on TV, you know, one to nothing loss to the Washington Nationals at Cacti Park.

Starting point is 00:02:14 Just not a whole lot to get excited about offensively. Pitching-wise, again, and we've been going through this throughout the spring, which, you know, I hope we're preparing ourselves for what we're going to get in the regular season where we might see some pretty good pitching performances by the Cardinals. But the offense, there is a lot of holes here. And we can't really use the excuse that, oh, wait, you know, we're in spring training still because this lineup, the major league players were in this game, the starting lineup consistent of guys who have either already been on the Cardinals at one point or another or will be with

Starting point is 00:02:52 the Cardinals in St. Louis to begin the season. And one name in particular that was back in the lineup that everybody's paying a lot of attention to was never 18, Jordan Walker. he's hard to miss because he's gigantic. But we all want to see if the few days off has helped him out at all. But Ali had JJ Weatherholt leading off at shortstop, followed by Walker and right, Burley at first, Gorman at third, Pozo D.Hing for me and at second,

Starting point is 00:03:18 Churchill left, Pahas and the catcher, and Victor Scott in center field. Like it or not, when you see that particular lineup, which you might be like, oh, that's not great. you're probably going to see that lineup at some point or another during the season with the Cardinals. Like it might happen for sure. So no Mason win, no Ivan Herrera, no Nelson Belasquez. But this group of guys will certainly be a part of the 2026 Cardinals,

Starting point is 00:03:48 which is why some folks are looking at them going, hey, we're probably going to see 70 or less wins out of the Cardinals this year. when a lineup like that is on paper starting for them. So pitching side, though, Dustin May. Dustin May on the bump, he was my number one star of today's game. This was May's third start of the spring. And as I've said over, over and over and over and I'll not stop saying it ever, health is the biggest turtle for Dustin May.

Starting point is 00:04:17 The stuff that Dustin May possesses has always been there. Healthy, no, healthy, he's in trouble. He wasn't healthy last year. number suffered. Got to throw in a lot more games, but he's back. And the arm is good. He's looking good. He's got his weight back up. He's a big man. And it showed on the mound again today. When he hurled five innings, gave him four hits, just one run. He did walk one. And he also struck out three. Now, the one walk was really the big blemish that was on his his box score today. Hits are going to be, it's going to happen. People are going to get hits off of you in the major

Starting point is 00:04:55 leagues. But first battery faces, May was all over the place. All over the place. I don't know if he was just trying to get a feel for the mound, just trying to get comfortable. I don't know. I don't know, but a five-pitch walk to the leadoff guy. And some of them were not even close. So we all know that that that's a big no doubt. And then after a couple of groundouts, the the runners moved over to third. So good job by the nationals for playing some small ball and getting people over, putting the ball in play. Runner on third two down, cleanup hitter, Brady, Howell. comes up and he somehow, somehow fists a 99.7 mile an hour fastball in on his hands into right field for an RBI double. I don't know how he did it. No idea. Give credit the house because that

Starting point is 00:05:42 pit should have eaten him alive. But he puts it in play, gets a double, lead off walks scores, lead off walks are the devil. You know this. I don't have to keep saying it over and over, but I probably will anyway. So that's all. that run scored 1-0. And that was all the scoring in this game. Outside of the mat, out of that, out of that, though, May was excellent. Had to work awfully hard in the final inning, the fifth inning, those pesky gnats. They just kept fouling things off, left and right. He had to throw seven pitches to the lead off hitter, which ended in a single, actually, seven to the second batter who grounded out, two to the third, who also got a single, making it

Starting point is 00:06:20 first and third and one out. So now you're in a situation where, all right, can Dustin May pitch out of this? gets the next hitter to pop out to shallow left field over to church on four pitches. So that was great. But then a grueling eight pitch at bat, but ends up winning this one. Finally, escapes the jam, gets out of trouble. But you can just tell that he was just annoyed. And we know my math sucks normally, but I think that was 28 pitches in that fifth inning. And that is a very long inning when you consider that nobody scored.

Starting point is 00:06:53 It wasn't like people were knocking the ball. around or nothing. No, nobody scored. But he had to throw 28 pitches to get through it, made throws 55 of his 81 pitches for strikes. And like I mentioned, he was popping 99 again on Tuesday, was consistently around 97. He looked good. He was very frustrated in that final inning because he just couldn't put these guys away. You know, he was up on him and they just kept getting a piece of something. And he would like throw it. And he's like, turn around and just be like, are you serious? You got a piece of that one too. So, but it was cool to see him pitch out of it. You know, you got to work through some diversity when you're on the mountain. I mean,

Starting point is 00:07:33 everything is going to go smooth when the regular season starts. So to see him work his way through that and get out of it without giving up any more damage. That was good. So far this spring, three starts to run, seven hits, 11 and two-thirds innings. Four walks, obviously is something you want to cut down. But seven strikeouts, ERA. 1.54, the whips at 0.94. Opponents are hitting just 171 against him. So far, so good for the Cardinals, big right-hander, Big Red himself. Coming up, second and third stars of the game plus,

Starting point is 00:08:06 how do things look for Jordan Walker in his return to the lineup? We'll get into all of it coming up on Locked on Cardinals. I am thrilled, absolutely thrilled to be talking about our sponsor, MLB, the show, 26. The greatest game in baseball is back with its newest installment. my favorite game by far to play. I've been playing the new version 26 since the early access did become available. And yes, I can confirm that we get the Cardinals version of Scott Rowland that was not given to us in the last season, but Red Cheney's is in the game this year for

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Starting point is 00:11:25 dot supercast.com. So tap the link in the show notes for more info. All right, your second and third stars of Tuesday's game. And as sad as it is, I'm just going to give it to the bullpen because the combination of George Soriano, Justin Brule and Scott blew it, they were good. Come on down, boys. Take a seat at the table. Those three took over after May was finished and mowed down the gnats over the final three innings. Soriano does one scoreless with a K. Brule, one scoreless with a walk in a K, blew it one scoreless with a K, although after the inning he did make one mistake, started walking to the wrong dugout. Did anybody else pick up on that when he did that?

Starting point is 00:12:05 Kind of a funny moment. Spring training for everybody, right? Soriano, the dude's been exceptional. What I want to pick up for the Cardinals so far since getting traded over from the Nationals in exchange for Andre Greenio, who also got in this game for Washington and through a scoreless inning, almost everybody did. So far this spring, Soriano has made six appearances. He's allowed one under and run, five hits, no walks.

Starting point is 00:12:28 He has struck out eight. The ERA, my animal house fans will get this, 0.0. The whip is 0.83. I know ERA usually has 0.0. Don't make fun of me. Anyway, it's been a good trade for both teams so far. They're enjoying Andre Garneo being in camp for them. And Soriano has looked fantastic and is certainly going to be a member of this bullpen for

Starting point is 00:12:49 the Cardinals come opening day. Justin Broll, your other left hand are in the bullpen other than Joe Joe Bromero. has made a team high, seven appearances so far this spring. He's allowed four runs on four hits and six and two thirds, three walks, seven gays, but it's the lefty that they're going to go with. They still have packing on. They've still got Nick Rakey in the organization. So if those guys are ready to come up at any point, they're going to be on that shuttle.

Starting point is 00:13:15 But as of right now, it's going to be Jojo and Brule as your left handers. Then Blue, Blue, it continues to fight for that spot with his fourth consecutive scoreless appearance. mentioned this in yesterday's show when I was kind of putting together what I thought the bullpen was going to look like. He gave up a run in each of his first two outings, but since then four innings, no runs, one hit, one walk, four case, doing his very best to force Ali to make a very tough decision come cut down time. Don't know if he's going to make it or not. My guess he's on the outside looking in, but he's doing his best. Last four appearances, nothing. And offensively, again, just a very, very dull.

Starting point is 00:13:55 very lifeless. Just not much there. Not much there for the Cardinals in this one. Outside of, I guess, Victor Scott's stolen base, there wasn't a moment in this game that I really was like, yeah, which is a problem. There was just no energy at the plate. Just four hits on the day.

Starting point is 00:14:15 Three of them did come from the starting lineup, Poso Church and Pahas, each had singles. J.J. Weatherholt, spring average, has dipped to 214 after an 0.15.5. three today. He's three for 20 since the calendar flipped to March. I had somebody reach out and say, are you worried about JJ? You know, are we, are we fearing that he's going to go down this Jordan Walker path of the Dylan Carlson path? And I'm like, no, guys, come on. Like, stop. In 20 at bats, now you're worried about the guy as the number three overall prospect in baseball. And I know

Starting point is 00:14:48 Jordan Walker was ranked very high at one point, too. But my thing is, I don't see J.J. Weatherhole looking just lost at the plate. He doesn't look uncomfortable. He's not striking out a bunch, just not finding the holes right now. Burley O for three with two K's. Gorman O for two did have a walk and a K for mean O for three. Now hitting 179 this spring. Is he on the outside looking in at this point? Victor Scott, O for three, got on in the fifth inning on that fielder's choice, was able to steal second. This stolen base of the spring, which leads the club, but the batting average down to 143, not what you wanted to see this spring. You were hoping that he would show better. Although, if you remember last spring, he was tearing the cover off the ball and he didn't

Starting point is 00:15:31 hit during the regular season, hardly. So maybe that's going to flip-flop. And he's going to be amazing when the regular season starts. But the guy everyone was really eager to see back in the lineup. I'm right there with you. It was Jordan Walker. That's who we were keeping an eye on. It hadn't appeared in the game since March 12, has been doing work in the labs, batting cages, you know, instead of live situation at bats, this wasn't like some secret thing that the Cardinals pulled out from under all of us. They told us they were doing this.

Starting point is 00:16:00 That is what the plan is, is to get him out of the live situations for a little bit. He's working on a lot of things right now. So let's get him in the lab and try to get him some good swings that way. Hope was that maybe in this first game, he would come back a little refreshed, but the results weren't there, obviously, not what we wanted over for with two strikeouts.

Starting point is 00:16:23 First of bat got blown away by a 94 mile an hour fastball, which should not happen at the major league level. But my guess is he was looking for the breaking ball away, which is what everybody tries to put him away with, right? Everybody's throwing sweepers and sliders, everything, low and away. And my guess was he was looking for that. And then the 94 looked like 99 when it came in at him. So instead of the breaking ball, I got the gas.

Starting point is 00:16:47 Second of bat, he had an exit be a little of, 101.8. Great, right? Problem was it had a launch angle of minus one. And minus one is not going anywhere. That was a ground out two second base, hit the ball hard, which is great. But one of the issues that you've seen with Jordan Walker, uh, not only in the spring, but through his time in the big league so far as he hits it really hard, but boom, straight to the ground is where it goes. Lawn changle was, has been a problem since he first came up with the team. So, um, Kind of similar things right there. But third of bat, fastball away, drove it that way.

Starting point is 00:17:25 Unfortunately, sinking line drive, right fielder made a nice play, was able to make the catch on it. But good to see him take the ball where it was pitch. He didn't try to get out in front of it and try to yank it over into the left field side of things. He took it that way, bat on ball, not too shabby, just didn't fall. Fourth of bat, let off the ninth inning, went down in three pitches, fastball slider, slider, all of them, all three pitches in the low and away corner of the strike zone. Perfect pitches by Varlane, who was in the game for Washington,

Starting point is 00:18:02 who looked insanely good in this game. Like he was on fire, like we're just having one of those games where he could dot it wherever he wanted. And he was like, oh, that little square right there low and away, we're just going to pop that three times on Jordan Walker. Good afternoon. Good night. So it was, that was a tough at baggage.

Starting point is 00:18:21 You're just like, what do you want me to do with that? Like, that's, that's tough. That was a tough at bat there. And it was over fairly quickly. So three pitches. My thoughts on Walker in this one, he still looks like he's searching, you know? And it's going to take time.

Starting point is 00:18:42 It's going to take time. I don't know what else to tell you guys about him. It's, it's as baffling to me as it. is to you and to the staff and to Jordan and probably his family. Like why what has happened? Like why can't I get this right? Where, where am I? It hasn't been that long where I was that guy. And now I'm just, I don't know if he's in his head too much. I don't know. But we've got plenty of thoughts from you on Jordan Walker and Nelson Velasquez coming up in Cardinal Confessions. We're going to do that next on Locked on Cardinals. What if sports were traded like markets?

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Starting point is 00:21:15 Once again, thank you for making Lockton. And Cardinals your first list of the day. Thank you for making locked on the number one sports podcast network. All right, time for Cardo Confessionals, where I go through some of the comments and responses on things from past shows, like the last few. And the names that are brought up more than anybody else, everybody wants to talk about Jordan Walker and Nelson

Starting point is 00:21:33 Velazquez, which makes sense. Walker has struggled again this spring, while Nellie has raked and seemingly has done enough to make this team. So I'll just kind of go back and forth here on the different responses and stuff about each of these guys. Let's start with this one. Literally, I've been saying this since the beginning of spring break. Time for Mr. Jordan to take a walk, L.O.L. Welcome to the team, Nelson. A lot of what the Cardinals, front office have done in the past 10 years makes no sense. Wouldn't surprise me if they cut Velasquez loose. Now to that, hold on a second. And you're probably trying to be funny. And that's fine. It's hard to get humor through, especially dry humor through like comments and writing. But I will say

Starting point is 00:22:22 that we do have a new front office group that is in place right now. So baseball decision makers that are here now have nothing to do with the good or the bad things that have happened. happened five and 10 years ago that these decisions that were made before them. So it's don't, don't lump them all in as like, okay, well, our previous people were stupid.

Starting point is 00:22:44 So now these guys are stupid too. We'll get a chance to see if they're stupid. We don't know yet. Nothing and nothing in the regular season have been played out yet. So we'll find out. But I cannot, yeah, I can't even fathom them actually cutting this guy.

Starting point is 00:23:04 that would be crazy. This is an opportunity where this is opportunity, meaning preparation and timing. Velasquez has it all figured out at the right time. This will be one of the better short-term moves potentially by the end of the year. We'll put the Lasquez back up there. Very well, could be, could be a smart move. But I will caution everyone on the excitement here. As cool as it has been to see Nellie mashing the ball all over the yard in spring training.

Starting point is 00:23:31 It is spring training. It's not like he's going up against the top pitchers. in Major League Baseball four times a night. Like some of the stuff is happening against guys who aren't so good. So I want to believe that he's going to be a solid contributor. And I hope that, you know, the Cardinals have, you know, uncovered something special if he makes this team. But once teams get scouting on him again, things might change and there might be some struggles. So just go look at the past.

Starting point is 00:23:57 There was a lot of strikeouts. I mean, the Cubs, Royals, pirates, they've all had them, all right? And they all got rid of them. for certain reasons. So keep that in mind. Keep that in mind when you think about how good you think he'll be this year. Let's go back to some Jordan Walker ones. Hopefully it's a lab that can fix Walker's eyes so he can recognize the pitch much quicker. I mean, it's been long enough. And now we're sending guys down to leave an open spot for him with his defense when his defense isn't good either. He's a guy you send a double A and clear his head of all the nonsense. They've shoved in it

Starting point is 00:24:30 and retouch how, reteach how to hit. Let me just say this. There are a lot of responses from a lot of fans who think that he should be sent to the minors to start the year and then have him work his way back up. I just keep wondering if part of the thing that they would rather do is keep him in St. Louis where they can keep a closer eye on him rather than sending him off to the miners where he's in Springfield or he's in Memphis and he's not right. there. And as I mentioned last episode, they're trying everything to figure this whole thing out.

Starting point is 00:25:08 They want to get it fixed. They feel like they got to get it fixed. Like it's this not something that they're taking lightly and that they're like, well, oh, well, let's move on. As much as fans want to move on, the Cardinals are not. Ali is not. The staff is not. This is a project that they want to conquer and they want to make him better and get this fixed. and get him back in the right direction. So it's genuinely one of the top priorities for everybody. And hopefully he starts showing some progress before the season begin so we can all take a breath and relax a little bit about his struggles

Starting point is 00:25:43 because I'm like you, man. I hate seeing it. And at the same time, like it's painful to watch. And I want to see my team win. And if he's going to be doing what he's doing at the point right now, that's not going to help my team win. in response to the lineup and roster that I proposed in the last episode. That's what this is about.

Starting point is 00:26:06 I hope both Walker and Chris Roycroft reach their potential because they have such power. I would hate to see it go astray. I also say yes to the bullpen choices, although I know that can change quickly. Looking forward to opening day, go cards. All right. I like it. I am fine with your lineup for this rebuild year. If winning were the priority, I would play either Walker or Scott,

Starting point is 00:26:26 but not both at the same time until they can prove they, they belong in front of Church and Nelly. Walker and Scott are still young and can work as bench players for now. Well, can I ask you this? What has Church and Nelly done in the big leagues to start over those two? Did you see something out of Nathan Church last year when he was up hitting in the 100s as well? Nelson Blasquez, you didn't even know. He wasn't even had the pros last year.

Starting point is 00:26:56 So they're going to side with Walker and Victor first. That's just the way it's going to be. They're going to try to get them to become better players. Church, I think, has a great chance of starting in left field. I think Velasquez will have a chance to start in places. And also, D.H. We'll see what's up with Yvonne Herrera. I got an update on him, actually.

Starting point is 00:27:19 He should be back on the field on Wednesday. I know, like, in yesterday's episode that we were thinking he might be available on Tuesday. Instead, he caught a bullpen session on Tuesday is supposed to get three innings behind the plate against the Astros on Wednesday. So that's good news. Thomas U.J.C. expected back with the team. He was with Team Italy at the WBC. And then Michael McGreevy also threw a minor league game in Jupiter so that he can stay on his normal schedule moving forward. So Cardinals back at it tomorrow against the Houston Astros.

Starting point is 00:27:48 We'll have more on what's going on with that game and stuff after it is completed on Wednesday. So thanks for making it locked on Cardinals, your first list. every day if you haven't already. Give us a follow on X at L.O underscore Cardinals and the JD Sports Radio. You can find me on TikTok and Instagram and Locked on Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube. If you never miss an episode, don't forget that every day or club built for you, get locked on cardinals ad free. Plus, members only Discord access. Head to locked on STLCardels.com to join the club. Use the code March before tip off on Thursday and get yourself a free month. On video, we'll send you to the first ever 24-7 national lockdown podcast network, YouTube.

Starting point is 00:28:25 channel on audio. Make sure your second listen is Locked on MLB. You're the best fans in baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals. Happy St. Patty's Day, everybody.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals’ Dustin May SHOWCASES Electric Stuff, Jordan Walker's STRUGGLES Continue

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