Here’s why heading to Triple-A is ‘best’ for Jordan Walker’s development

With struggles to find consistent offense persisting 20 games into his second big league season, it became clear to the Cardinals what change was needed for outfielder Jordan Walker.

Through 58 at-bats, the 21-year-old hit .155 with four doubles and a .498 on-base plus slugging percentage. He struck out 18 times and did not connect on a home run as his ground-ball rate rose and his line-drive production shrunk while he continued to correct mechanical issues.

In a move described as the “best” solution for the young hitter, Walker was optioned to Triple-A Memphis on Wednesday ahead of the Cardinals’ series finale against the Diamondbacks.

“A lot of discussion around it,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Walker’s demotion. “And in thinking what’s best for Jordan at the moment for continuing his development, going down into a lower-stakes environment and working on the things that he’s been trying to work on over the last several weeks here made the most sense.”

Adjustments with his swing and with pitch selection will be focuses for Walker. He is expected to continue working on mechanical changes for the next two to three days before he makes his way into a minor league game.

Similar to his April demotion last season after opening the season as St. Louis’ starting right fielder, Walker’s ground-ball tendency was an issue the Cardinals felt needed to be addressed. Through 20 games this season, Walker produced a 50% ground-ball rate while his 4.8% line-drive rate was more than 10% lower than it was in 2023 and was the second-lowest among players with a minimum of 60 plate appearances entering Wednesday, per FanGraphs.

Against breaking pitches, which accounted for 38.2% of the pitches he saw, the second-year slugger had a .150 batting average and a 42.9% swing-and-miss rate, per Statcast. His 37.5% hard-hit rate against breaking pitches was the lowest among pitch groups Walker saw, while the 73.9% chase-miss rate was the highest. Those struggles included making contact on pitches located low and away.

“I think they go hand in hand,” Marmol said when asked if the swing issues and pitch selection are connected. “They don’t have to, but I think one amplifies the other. It’s hard to stay connected and do what you want to do from a posture standpoint in holding your backside. Some of the things that he’s been working on and (keeping) that while swinging at a pitch that is down and away, it’s not great. Being able to get the pitch closer to him (and) lay off of that but also even with pitches in the zone, being able to make the move he wants to make with his body.”

With Walker in Memphis, utility Gold Glover Brendan Donovan may be used as a regular outfielder for “the time being,” Marmol said. There may be more at-bats at the DH spot than previously expected for catchers Willson Contreras and Ivan Herrera as well for outfielder Alec Burleson while Walker looks to swing his way back into the majors.

“I mean, if he’s not going to be in the lineup every day at his age, then the best thing for Jordan Walker is to go down and play every day and get to where he needs to get to,” Marmol said.

Thompson heads to Memphis

Along with Walker’s option to Class AAA, the Cardinals optioned left-hander Zack Thompson to Memphis. Lefty John King and infielder Jose Fermin were recalled in corresponding moves and joined the big league club on Wednesday.

Thompson, 26, is expected to join Memphis’ rotation to be built up to 85 to 95 pitches in order to be ready for a start in the majors if needed. The consistent role will also allow him to work on issues that have caused his velocity to take dips after he posted a 9.53 ERA in 17 innings to begin the year.

“Regardless of last night’s outing, today would have been the day we made a decision on him either way. ... He needs to get stretched out and get back into throwing 85 (to) 95 pitches per outing and getting enough touches where he’s working on the things he needs to work on,” Marmol said. “We can’t expect him to be sharp out of the ’pen and see a tick up in (velocity) if he’s not actually having an opportunity to work on those things.”

Tribute to Whitey

As a tribute to Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog, the Cardinals will soon affix a No. 24 patch to the sleeves of their jerseys for the rest of the 2024 season, an executive with the team confirmed. The circular patch will feature Herzog’s name and his retired No. 24, and it will look similar to past memorials the Cardinals have worn.

The team consulted with the Herzog family before moving forward with the patch tribute.

It will likely appear on the sleeve opposite the advertisement patch, and the Cardinals will have the Herzog patch eventually on their white home jerseys, the road grays and both the cream-colored Saturday home jerseys and blue Saturday road jerseys.

Fermin taking ‘professional’ at-bats

Back in the majors for the first time since last season, Jose Fermin returns to the Cardinals roster as infield depth and a bench bat option following his strong start to the Class AAA season. In 18 games with Memphis, Fermin posted a .350/.458/.650 slash line. He homered four times and connected on six doubles. At the time of his recall to his recall to the majors, Fermin ranked sixth in average and fourth in OPS (1.108).

“Just taking a really good at-bat, which we’ve seen,” Marmol said. “I mean, he finds barrel. Like, he just does. Like, he just finds a way to put the barrel on the ball. And he’s done a good job with that in Triple-A. He’s taken a really professional at-bat. Reports on him have been good.”

Injury updates

• Infielder Matt Carpenter (right oblique strain) will resume his swing progression on Thursday after he received an injection on Monday. Carpenter required a three-day window of no activity before picking up his rehab. He will travel with the Cardinals for their six-game, two-city road trip that begins with a visit to New York to face the Mets.
• Outfielders Tommy Edman (right wrist) and Dylan Carlson (left shoulder) as well as relievers Keynan Middleton (right forearm strain) and Riley O’Brien (flexor tendon) are expected to remain in St. Louis to continue rehabbing while the Cardinals hit the road.

Photos: St. Louis Cardinals get pounded by Arizona Diamondbacks 14-1

The fear — with all due respect to Dylan Carlson — is that Jordan Walker becomes Dylan Carlson.

Of course, there’s still some time for Carlson, 25, to become a productive major leaguer (be it in St. Louis or, as the trend has recently gone, in another city). But to this point, Carlson is the prototype of an elite Cardinals outfield prospect who underachieved in the majors.

Some forget just how big a prospect Carlson was. The swatting switch-hitter debuted in 2020 — had a big postseason game, too, that pandemic season — and then tallied a .780 on-base plus slugging percentage in 2021, the year he finished third in the voting for National League Rookie of the Year.

Then came some bad injuries and bad splits. His career OPS is now .717. And he’s injured yet again.

Man, if you had asked me in 2020 where Carlson would be as a player by 2024, I would’ve said: multitime All-Star.

Which leads us to Walker, who turns 22 on May 22. The prodigious youngster was baseball’s top hitting prospect heading into 2023.

He was sent down around this time last season because he was hitting too many grounders. Well, on Wednesday, he was sent down this season because he’s hitting too many grounders.

How did we get to this point, Cardinals?

I mentioned hitting coach Turner Ward in a previous column. He’s overseeing this. And even after Wednesday’s 5-1 win, the Cardinals (11-14) have the fewest homers in the National League and the second-lowest batting average. Walker’s regression is a problem, but it’s clearly not the only problem in the St. Louis lineup. On the job, Ward and his staff must improve their ability to communicate to their players, to unlock their players and to enhance their players.

Walker, of course, is a key player. In some ways, Walker is the epitome of what’s gone wrong with the 2024 Cardinals: He was supposed to be a standout hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals, and now, he’s not even a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

With a .155 batting average, no homers and a .498 OPS, Walker was sent down to Class AAA Memphis before Wednesday’s game.

“It’s not something you want, not something anybody wants for him,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “But the situation does call for it.”

Last year, the strategic demotion worked. Walker came back hitting balls off the ground. And from his June 2 return until the end of the year, he hit .277, and his OPS was .802. Maybe this is the good kind of deja vu? A lot of it will be how Walker handles the humbling — and how Walker handles the homework. He’s a caring player and a caring person, so here’s thinking it’ll work out. But it’s sure frustrating — for everyone — that it got to this point in the first place.

“Obviously, that’s my guy,” Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn said of his close friend, Walker. “But he’s got some little things to work on, and he knows it. And he didn’t go down there pouting or anything. He went down there ready to go to work. Hoping to see him up here real soon again — just get back to work, getting back to Jordan Walker.”

Walker must work on pitch recognition — and, thus, laying off low and outside pitches. He must get better at hitting breaking balls in the zone. He must hit more line drives. He’s got the tools. And he’s got the brain. This is achievable stuff. Optimism remains high.

But Carlson looms, literally and figuratively.

Carlson could return to the outfield mix in early May. Remember, he did have an inspiring spring before Walker accidentally ran into him in the outfield.

And the story of Carlson’s career underachievement hovers above Walker, the Cardinals coaches and the front office.

Simply put, Walker is a can’t-miss prospect. So they better hit with him (meaning he better hit better).

“It’s a hard game, and there are constant adjustments,” Marmol said. “And then you also know that the league is going to try to expose his weaknesses, so you try to address those — but it’s an environment that’s tough to make swing adjustments at. It’s one thing to make pitch selection and pitch recognition adjustments at this level and just lay off. But when you’re trying to do that and also (your) swing is not where it needs to be — that makes it a little bit more difficult, especially at his (young) age. So it makes the most sense for Jordan at the moment to get those reps in a lower-stakes environment, it really does.”

Sometimes, we forget how young Walker is. He’s currently 21. And for every Juan Soto, there are other super-young players who only show glimpses of domination before they can legally drink. But if a guy is in the majors, he must produce like a major leaguer. And Walker’s .498 OPS with a bunch of ground balls, regardless of how hard they were hit, isn’t going to cut it.

Third baseman Nolan Arenado struggled earlier this year, and he’s now found his stroke. Hitting worse than .200, Nolan Gorman started clicking this past series, launching rocket after rocket. Maybe Walker is the next big name to get going for the Cardinals. But first, it’ll have to happen for the Redbirds.

“Walk is a great kid, man — it’s sad to see him go,” Arenado said. “I didn’t know until I got here (Wednesday morning) that I realized what happened. It stinks. You don’t want to see people get sent down and he’s been working in the cage and he’s trying to figure it out. And it’s unfortunate the work hasn’t paid off in the game yet. That’s kind of been everybody so far this year. We’ll miss him; I know he’ll get right and we need him.

“If there’s one message — I don’t know what they told them — but if there’s one message we can send him is that we need him. And hopefully he gets right and we can make a good run.”

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After bruising loss, what Willson Contreras does to stay in lineup, to give Cardinals a grip

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When the Cardinals’ offense needed what it’s been lacking in the past several weeks, it got a helping hand from a familiar face.

Jordan Montgomery, the one-time Cardinals’ starter and new Arizona headliner, made his only real mistake of the afternoon when his former team had the go-ahead run at third base. Montgomery skipped a wild pitch that allowed the Cardinals to break a tie without any of the things the lineup has mostly been missing during this home stand — a hit and an RBI.

Willson Contreras, playing through a deep bone bruise in his left hand, put in motion the decisive inning on the way to a 5-1 victory Wednesday at Busch Stadium. Contreras’ double moved leadoff hitter Brendan Donovan to third, put two runners in scoring position, and brought the Diamondbacks’ infield in to protect a one-run lead.

Nolan Arenado lined a single over the infielders’ reach.

That first-pitch, RBI base hit tied the game, and got Contreras within striding distance of home. Montgomery gave him the invitation with the wild pitch and the one-run lead, their first lead since the walk-off win Monday.

The Cardinals’ resolute bullpen held on from there.

The offense added on late.

The game ended with a double play, fireworks, and an extended review when Arizona challenged the call at both bases. That only wasted the fireworks and delayed the D-Backs’ packing. Replay did not overturn either call.

A day after a gruesome game, the Cardinals found their way back into a familiar tense game, played in front of an chanting and yelling and enthusiastic crowd of schoolkids. Before the eighth-inning add-ons, the stingy pitching from starter Kyle Gibson and the opportunistic offense allowed the Cardinals to make the most out of so few runs in the series. They were outscored in the series, lost one game by 13 runs, and yet won the series against the defending National League champs. The Cardinals claimed both games they scored at least five runs.

In his third start for the team he signed with as a free agent at the start of the season, Montgomery shaved his ERA beneath 1.00 by throwing five shutout innings against his former teammates. The Cardinals had only one runner get as far as second base vs. Montgomery until Contreras’ double in the sixth. Montgomery (1-1) limited the Cardinals to three runs on six hits and he struck out four.

Gibson (2-2) steered through a rocky first inning to provide the Cardinals six solid innings and limit Arizona to one run, which was scored on a sacrifice fly.

Ryan Helsley authored a scoreless ninth to secure the win.

Go, go gadget Cardinals

An insurance run against Montgomery developed in the seventh inning with a tough call and a fortunate call made by opposite ends of the ballpark.

Masyn Winn, the Cardinals’ shortstop off to a brisk start this season, stung a groundball up the middle. Arizona shortstop Blaze Alexander went to his left and made a lunging stop on the grounder. He had to retrieve the carom and get to his feet for a throw that had the right timing to get Winn — but was low, skipped, and was not caught. The throw was ruled an error by the official scorer in the press box, putting Winn on first.

He was not there long.

Against the lefty Montgomery, Winn got an aggressive, incredible jump on a call from the dugout. At the same time, Montgomery left a pitch up in the zone and away from left-handed batter Nolan Gorman. He poked it to left field, and because Winn was already at second base by then the speedy shortstop just kept going. He rounded third to score from first on a single.

In the eighth, the Cardinals spun two walks and a single into seeding the bases for Lars Nootbaar’s two-run double.

Gibson hopscotches around trouble

For the first half of the game, the Diamondbacks produced as many baserunners from their first three hitters of the game than the Cardinals had total.

Back-to-back singles welcomed Gibson to the game, and then, as if to increase the degree off difficulty, the veteran right-hander plunked Joc Pederson with a pitch to load the bases, all before he had any outs. With the Diamondbacks poised to build upon their 13-run romp Tuesday night with a big-inning beginning Wednesday, Gibson did not lose his hold on the inning. A sacrifice fly produced the first inning’s lone run and gave Gibson the out he needed to pry free of the inning. A double play ball did the rest.

Inviting and then sidestepping traps defined Gibson’s quality start.

A wild pitch in the second inning gave the Diamondbacks a quick runner in scoring position, and there he stayed as Gibson retired the bottom third of the lineup. In the fourth, a walk and another wild pitch put two runners in scoring position. Gibson struck out Kevin Newman to leave another two Diamondbacks marooned in scoring position. The first two batters of the fifth inning also reached base to bring up the middle of Arizona’s order. Gibson turned them back in order.

The batter he hit to load the bases in the first? Pederson?

Three pitches later Pederson stood starting at a fastball for a called strike 3.

That unplugged the inning and kept Gibson chugging through six.

Pages gets save – at catcher

The Cardinals continue to carry three catchers on the roster to free up Ivan Herrera and Contreras to both be in the lineup, as they were Wednesday. But another way the Cardinals could use the roster revealed itself late in the game as they tried to hold what was a one-run lead. Pages replaced Herrera for the final two innings to give the Cardinals a quality framer and deterrent behind the plate. Arizona ran its way to the NL pennant this past year, and Herrera has had difficulty this season throwing runners out. Opponents are 12-for-12 against Herrera in attempted thefts. Pages offered a different look for Arizona to consider.

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Photos: St. Louis Cardinals defeat Arizona Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium

The bruising on the Busch Stadium scoreboard for the Cardinals on Tuesday was gone when, like their offense, the power to it switched off. And, while that one will linger longer in the standings, there is another contusion, deeper than any score, that has the club’s attention.

In the fifth inning of a game that got away early and ugly, catcher Willson Contreras stood in the team’s dugout and, as broadcast by Bally Sports Midwest, removed the cap on a water bottle with his mouth, not his sore left hand. A bone bruise Contreras sustained during the team’s season-opening road trip continues to cause him discomfort and sometimes zinging pain when catching pitches.

He’s using a larger mitt now to cushion the sting.

Anything to try to hoist the team out of its skid.

“It’s not 100%,” Contreras said late Tuesday night before leaving the ballpark. “It doesn’t feel good. But it’s nothing that will keep me away from the game.”

The Cardinals’ 14-1 loss to Arizona got ghastly enough early enough that it was more than enough for a handful of the everyday players. A parade of subs started midway through the game.

Contreras was among the first to depart. He pressed his left hand into his left side as he ran to first base on a groundout that ended the fifth inning. He did not return to the field, replaced by rookie Pedro Pages. Contreras and manager Oliver Marmol explained after the game that the score, more than the soreness, led to the decision to have the catcher leave the game when he did. It saved him several innings of pitches against that left hand, where a bone bruise persists more than weeks after an opponent’s pitch drilled the hand in San Diego.

“Same catching hand that certain pitches – it just kind of shocks his hand and takes a minute for him to get the feeling back,” Marmol said. “Took a swing. Same thing. But different than yesterday or the day before.”

Said Contreras: “Need to be smart about it.”

That is why he’s switched to the larger mitt – to give him more room in the pocket to receive pitches and also protect the hand and avoid worse bruising. That is also why the Cardinals have a third catcher, Pages, on the roster to allow them to have backup catcher Ivan Herrera in the lineup and also not lose the DH if Contreras’ hand begins to ache.

And one of the guiding reasons why Contreras is doing all he can to stay in the lineup and the Cardinals are doing what they can to put Herrera there, too, is because the team is aching for runs.

The one run the Cardinals held against the Diamondbacks torrent meant they’ve been outscored 39 to 15 in their past six games, five of them losses. They’ve been held to three or fewer runs in eight of their past 10 games. After allowing 14 runs – each and every one of them earned – the Cardinals’ team ERA ballooned to 4.25, eighth-highest in the majors. But they also don’t score which leaves them with a minus-30 run differential, one of the worst in the league. Put another away, they’re allowing 4.25 earned runs for every nine innings they pitch and they are scoring 3.42 runs for every nine innings they come to bat.

The one run scored Tuesday came from Contreras.

The Cardinals had a brief residual flicker from the previous night’s rousing comeback. Paul Goldschmidt tied Monday’s game with his first home run since opening day at Dodger Stadium, and Nolan Gorman shattered an 0-for-18 spell with a two-run, walk-off launch in the ninth inning for a 5-3 victory. It had all the makings of a revival game and, in hindsight, none of the lasting results. Contreras hit a solo homer in the first inning Tuesday off Arizona lefty Tommy Henry. And that was it. The Cardinals did not muster another run against Henry, who entered the game with an ERA of 6.87.

It was not for lack of opportunities.

All six of the Cardinals left on base were in scoring position.

They continued to struggle to deliver offensively, but they also pitched poorly.

For the first time since 2007, two Cardinals pitchers allowed at least seven runs in the same game. Zack Thompson shouldered the middle, turbulent innings and is could be bound for Class AAA Memphis having exhausted his availability for a few days with 66 pitches to get through 2 2/3 innings. He allowed two of the three home runs the Cardinals hit and was solely in the game to give the Cardinals innings. The innings Thompson provided to avoid using other relievers is why Marmol went from lefty Steven Matz to lefty Thompson against a lineup that has an MLB-best .318 average against lefties and a .499 slugging percentage vs. lefties.

“A lot of pitches in the heart of the plate,” Marmol said of Thompson’s outing. “And they got hit.”

Matz (1-2) had a narrow way out of his problematic third inning, even as the lefty-chomping top of the Diamondbacks’ order came back around for a second look at him. Matz invited trouble with two walks to the No. 9 and leadoff hitters. The reprieve came when he struck out No. 2 hitter Gabriel Moreno. That second out of the inning, even with two runners on, put Matz on the brink of an escape.

Four pitches later the Cardinals had lost their lead and trailed, 4-1.

One pitch undid his start.

Christian Walker tagged an 84-mph changeup – the first pitch of his at-bat – that wasn’t inside enough for a three-run homer. That snapped the 1-1 tie Matz had a chance to maintain.

“Definitely felt like that was a huge pitch right there,” the lefty said. “I’m really kicking myself for that changeup I threw to Walker because I just felt like it wasn’t the right pitch. That was the one chance and he got slower (pitch) in the zone. Obviously, you can locate it better. But I think I’ve got to challenge him there with my fastball vs. giving him a chance with the slower pitch.”

Matz remained in the game into the fifth inning when the first three batters, each of them seeing him for a third time, got base hits. Matz’s season ERA added two runs to it after he allowed seven on six hits through 4 1/3 innings. The Diamondbacks sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs in the decisive fifth inning, and that was all before Arizona DH Pavin Smith hit the second grand slam of his career and his second grand slam at Busch.

The six runs in the fifth widened the gulch to 10-1 and led to Contreras leaving.

“I just wanted to make sure I’m good to go (Wednesday),” Contreras said.

By several measures, through 24 games, he’s been among the Cardinals’ most reliable performers. His improved defensive play puts him among the league-leaders in Defensive Runs Saved. He started Tuesday’s game with a .286 average while six of the other starters left that game with a batting average of .213 or lower. Four have an average of .195 or lower, and Gorman raised his average to that point with two hits.

Willson’s career-best 14-game hitting streak ended Monday, as did his 26-game on-base streak that stretched back this past season. He started both anew with his third homer of the season. That gives the Cardinals’ catcher six combined homers.

Six more than the DH position.

Six more than right field and center field combined.

Twice as many as all of the outfielders.

So Contreras keeps his sore hand on a bat, adds some heft to his mitt, and keeps playing through a grip that sometimes bothers him. Twice in the past week, Contreras has left a game due to pain in the hand. He had enough time in Tuesday’s game to receive additional treatment in the final innings and leave the ballpark feeling better about his availability for Wednesday’s series finale and day game. The Cardinals are 0-7 in series finales this season. Contreras said being ready to play was a focus of leaving the blowout. He took advantage of a game that went sideways to do what he could to be available to try and keep the next one from adding to the spiral.

Asked what he could do to help his hand continue to heal and avoid the pain.

“Catch the ball in the pocket,” he said.

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Photos: St. Louis Cardinals get pounded by Arizona Diamondbacks 14-1

Back in Double-A Springfield’s rotation after his second appearance of the season came as a reliever, Cardinals prospect Ian Bedell turned in one the longest outings of his MiLB career on Tuesday though it came with some trouble.

The former fourth-round pick and Mizzou product completed 5 1/3 innings making it the second-longest outing as a pro, but allowed four runs on eight hits in Springfield’s 7-6 win over Arkansas.

Bedell allowed a two-out solo home run in the first inning to catcher Harry Ford, the Mariners’ No. 2-ranked prospect, per Baseball America, and allowed a second run to score an inning later on a two-out double to center fielder Kaden Polcovich. The 24-year-old kept the Mariners’ Class AA club scoreless over his next three innings before allowing a leadoff home run in the sixth inning and was charged with another run after reliever Alex Cornwell surrendered a two-run homer that scored a runner Cornwell inherited from Bedell.

With the four runs allowed against Arkansas, Bedell owns a 3.77 ERA through his first 14 1/3 innings. As a starter, Bedell has allowed six runs over 10 1/3 innings while striking out 11 in his first month at the Double-A level.

Here are other notable performances from around the Cardinals farm system:

Outfielder Victor Scott II, Class AAA Memphis: In his first game at the Triple-A level following his demotion to the minors on Sunday, Scott went hitless in three at-bats and struck out once. He grounded out and lined out in his other two at-bats. The 23-year-old’s first game with Memphis comes after he opened the season as the Cardinals starting center fielder and played in 20 big league games. Scott posted a .085 average and a .138 on-base percentage in 59 major-league plate appearances.

Right-handed pitcher Michael McGreevy, Class AAA Memphis: After limiting Jacksonville batters to one hit through his first four frames, a pair of fifth-inning home runs spoiled McGreevy’s outing in Memphis’s 10-1 loss. The right-hander induced six groundouts and limited Jacksonville to two hits — a pair of doubles — and no walks before allowing a leadoff walk in the fifth. In the at-bat following the walk, a 91.6 mph fastball left high-and-in to Marlins prospect Griffin Conine was hit for a two-run homer. After inducing a pair of groundouts, McGreevy allowed a single to Victor Mesa Jr. and a two-run homer to Jonah Bride before he completed his fifth and final inning of work. Through his last four starts, McGreevy has allowed 14 runs on 26 hits in 21 innings. He is 1-3 with a 5.54 ERA on the season and has seen hitters produce a .312 batting average against him.

First baseman Chandler Redmond, Class AA Springfield: A two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning from Redmond not only lifted the S-Cards to a 7-6 win but also moved the 27-year-old up the Springfield Cardinals record books. The two-run homer was Redmond’s 59th as a Springfield Cardinal, tying him with Xavier Scruggs for the most home runs in franchise history. Redmond, a former 32nd-round pick in the 2019 draft, made his Springfield debut in 2021 and has appeared in 271 games for the Double-A affiliate. He also holds the record for most career RBIs in Springfield history with 198.

Right-handed pitcher Juan Salas, Class Low-A Palm Beach: The 21-year-old delivered his second quality start of the year as he tossed six scoreless frames and struck out nine in Palm Beach’s 1-0 loss to Fort Myers. Salas, who allowed one run in six innings in his previous start, induced 15 swings-and-misses while landing 13 called strikes on Tuesday, per Statcast. The righty induced a 47% whiff rate on his curveball and got six whiffs on his fastball that reached a maximum velocity of 94.3 mph. He issued one walk. Since opening the season in Palm Beach’s rotation, Salas has a 0.53 ERA with 23 strikeouts and four walks in 17 innings.

Believe it or not, Busch Stadium III, now in its 19th season, is still the eighth youngest ballpark in Major League Baseball.

Maybe that isn’t so difficult to believe. For a franchise as storied and proud as the Cardinals, two decades is just a routine one-two-three half-inning. And just beyond the outfield, Ballpark Village continues to grow.

Or maybe, between its retro-generic brick confines and the two World Series championships it’s already hosted, Busch III feels timeless.

If you’re a hungry restaurant critic who also loves baseball, a Cardinals game is a challenge.

In Baltimore, my hometown, the smoke from Boog’s BBQ wafts over Oriole Park at Camden Yards during Orioles games. Boog is the locally beloved former Orioles slugger Boog Powell.

When I went to a Royals game last year at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City — MLB’s sixth oldest ballpark, which the club is trying to replace — a local barbecue operation offered me a sample of ghost-chile sausage on my way inside.

Busch Stadium lacks that signature, unmistakably St. Louis food. The focus on local restaurants that St. Louis City SC has brought to Citypark since the soccer team and its stadium opened last year has underlined that lack.

There is hope, though. If you’re willing to explore the ballpark. And, yes, of course, willing to spend money. I understand ranting about the cost of taking your family to a game. For this project, alas, the prices are a given.

There is also now the St. Louis Slinger Dog, new for this season, a hot dog with hash browns, nacho meat and two sunny-side-up eggs.

During the Cardinals’ first homestand of this season, I went to three games in four days, eating my way from right field around home plate to left. I visited vendors in the 400 sections and the 100s. I omitted any foods that are not available to all ticketholders.

I also skipped the basics: plain hot dogs and burgers, nachos, peanuts and popcorn. I wanted the dishes that are, as baseball’s analytics nerds would say, above replacement level.

Here are the food items you must seek out at Busch Stadium in 2024 and those you should avoid.

Note: Parenthetical numbers indicate the stand’s section(s) in Busch Stadium. Prices do not include tax or optional gratuity.

What you must eat

Farmtruk

Farmtruk chef and owner Samantha Mitchell knows how to feed a stadium. Her food truck has already established a presence at Enterprise Center for the Blues and Citypark for City SC. And beginning this season, you can find Farmtruk in the right-field upper deck at Busch (429). Yes, you’ll need to make a pilgrimage there if you’re sitting elsewhere, but Farmtruk will repay the effort with the best food in the ballpark — by far.

Farmtruk’s signature dish is its Brisket Mac: exceptionally creamy mac and cheese that would be worth a trip by itself topped by tender, deeply beefy pulled brisket. (Brisket, never a sure thing, is especially fraught at a stadium, as we will see soon enough.) Mitchell finishes the dish with green onions and crumbled Red Hot Riplets, a fun nod to St. Louis. The portion is generous, easily enough for two to share.

New to me at Farmtruk’s Busch stand are the Pork Belly Jalapeño Popper Sliders. These aren’t literally a jalapeño popper sandwich (though that would be fun, too). Instead you get succulent confit pork belly garnished with tomato jam and a spicy cream-cheese spread that replicates a jalapeño-popper filling.

HOW MUCH: Both the Brisket Mac and the Pork Belly Jalapeño Popper Sliders are $17.99 each.

Big Chicken

I approached Big Chicken (135, 458) warily because of the celebrity non-chef angle. Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal is a founder. Also, the chicken sandwiches are arrayed in rows for you to peruse and pick from, tipping the stand from fast-food convenience to convenience-store “How long has this been out here?”

My worries were unfounded. Big Chicken serves very good fried chicken sandwiches. Graded on the ballpark curve, they are must-eat. The 314 sandwich uses a maple-bacon doughnut from St. Louis’ Vincent Van Doughnut as the bun. The doughnut bun is a tried-and-true gimmick — I ate one years ago at a Gateway Grizzlies game in Sauget — but it works, especially with the bacon to mellow the sweetness.

The chicken is juicy and moderately spicy — about as Nashville hot as you would want during a baseball game. (I briefly imagined the St. Louis chain Chuck’s Hot Chicken in Big Chicken’s place, then remembered how Chuck’s level 5 spice of 6 chicken knocked me on my rear last year.) The Uncle Jerome sandwich gives you the fried chicken, with pickles, on a standard bun.

HOW MUCH: The 314 sandwich is $15.99. The Uncle Jerome is $14.99.

Bacon-wrapped hot dog

I won’t argue with anyone who prefers a basic ballpark hot dog, even if they top it with ketchup. I’m a brat guy myself, but if anything will persuade me to switch, it will be the bacon-wrapped hot dog available at free-standing carts (147, 168). The bacon is the obvious upgrade here, but I appreciated the heat of pico de gallo and the crunch of fried onions just as much. You can also add baked beans as a topping. I, well into this project by this point, did not.

HOW MUCH: The bacon-wrapped hot dog is $10.49.

Kohn’s Killer Pastrami Sandwich

Like barbecue, pastrami raises the degree of difficulty for ballpark food. Unlike Busch’s barbecue, I can recommend Kohn’s (147), the cart operated by the Creve Coeur deli. Kohn’s pastrami is tender and zippy — though not so zippy you don’t miss its beefiness. With sauerkraut and onions, it does indeed make for a killer sandwich.

HOW MUCH: The Kohn’s Killer Pastrami Sandwich is $14.79.

The bench and bullpen

These concession stands aren’t must-visit, compared with the options above, but they work as an alternative to or upgrade from standard fare. Mission Taco Joint (150) offers the appealing Tex-Mex via California fare of the local restaurant chain. Those dishes suffer a little from being finished and held before you purchase them. The chile-crusted fries in the West Coast Nacho Fries ($13.99) go soft in its combination of queso and crema, but the flavors still pop, and the Mango Shrimp Tacos ($9.99) deliver crisp fried shrimp and a truly hot habanero aioli.

I don’t know if I would seek out Freddy’s (432) on my own dime, but its bacon double steakburger with cheese ($12.49) is a definite step up from a ballpark cheeseburger, and the cheese curds ($8.99) are a fun snack.

As I said, this project intentionally skipped the basics, but I did realize I’d never tried the Mega Slice Pepperoni Pizza (139, 162, 437) at Busch. It’s a big slice — you can share it, making the price ($9.99) one of the few deals here — with a thick crust, gooey cheese and plenty of deliciously oily pepperoni cups.

The slinger dog is gross. (It should be even grosser.)

Credit the St. Louis slinger dog with the most dramatic debut at Busch Stadium this season. At least until new Cardinals ace Sonny Gray returned from the injured list.

Can Gray balance two wobbly fried eggs on his shoulders, though?

The slinger dog does. Until it doesn’t. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The slinger dog is an all-beef hot dog nestled in its bun on a bed of hash browns, then slathered with nacho meat and topped with two sunny-side-up eggs.

The Cardinals unveiled the slinger dog at a media event ahead of the home opener. In a season the team is pitching as “For the Lou,” it pays tribute to St. Louis’ beloved hangover cure.

After the Cardinals’ shocking last-place finish in 2023, everyone is ready for a wiener.

And the slinger dog, Cardinals vice president of events, services and merchandise Vicki Bryant promised at the media event, “is a party in your mouth.”

The party begins at the Top Dog concession stand (132). A cook cracks eggs into ring molds on the griddle. They sizzle while she flips the hot dogs and brats and stirs the onions.

However overwhelming the slinger dog looks in photos or video, it is more overwhelming in person.

However gross the slinger dog looks in photos or video, it is grosser in person.

Frankly, it needs to be even grosser.

As designed, the slinger dog is essentially a chili dog with fried eggs. The hash browns don’t matter. They vanish into the bun. The nacho meat isn’t chili, but it’s in the ballpark.

The eggs are an adventure. Mine shimmied in place atop the slinger dog while I carried the tray a short distance to a counter to eat. I didn’t risk carrying it any farther.

One of the eggs started to slip when I tried to pick up the slinger dog. The white of this egg looked a little liquidy on top, anyway, so I ignored it.

The other egg was ideal, with a golden runny yolk and a crisp bottom. If you don’t like runny eggs, don’t order the slinger dog.

If you can manage a bite with hot dog, hash brown, nacho meat and egg, the dish still doesn’t capture the madness of a true slinger.

The slinger dog needs cheese. Shredded cheese? Sure. Nacho cheese, as can be found all over the ballpark? Even better.

Really, you can’t hold back in the stadium-food game circa 2024. In Pittsburgh, the Pirates are topping a hot dog with pierogi.

Just saying: Toasted ravioli would be a fitting For-the-Lou cherry on the slinger dog’s sundae.

HOW MUCH: The slinger dog costs $13.79. If nothing else, you do get a lot of food for that amount.

What else to avoid

The slinger dog’s aesthetic and structural shortcomings are obvious. Other, more subtle dangers lurk throughout the ballpark, though.

Barbecue

Broadway BBQ (109) is just a lazy fly ball from Salt + Smoke. The acclaimed barbecue restaurant was a welcome, locally owned addition to Ballpark Village when it opened three years ago in the One Cardinal Way tower. Looming over Broadway BBQ while you wait for the mesquite-smoked beef brisket, Salt + Smoke is also a taunt crueler than any a bleacher bum could hurl.

Broadway BBQ’s brisket was, by far, the worst thing I tried at Busch Stadium, verging on inedible. Sliced to order, this brisket showcased an appealingly black and gnarly bark, but the meat was so chewy it could have been advertised as jerky, though jerky typically brings more flavor than these dull slabs of rubber.

Undercooking of this notoriously fussy cut was the likely culprit here. It just so happens I know a place that could teach lessons on smoking excellent brisket at large volumes.

Smoked turkey, which I tried the day after the brisket, is the better option — tender enough and packing more than token flavor of woodsmoke — but is by no means a ballpark must.

HOW MUCH: The beef brisket basket, which includes bread, pickles and a bag of chips, is $13.49. The turkey basket is $12.49.

Stir-Fry

The regrettably named Asian Action (136) turns out perfectly adequate stir-fries packed into conveniently portable Chinese-restaurant takeout containers. My order of a chicken stir-fry, cooked (or at least finished) to order in a wok while I waited, led with a pleasant sweetness that yielded to a modest, but definite heat.

Asian Action’s set-up is the problem. It works only if you hit the stand upon arrival, as I did on the final of my three visits to the ballpark. This gets you a passable meal, which by itself is not enough to justify the price.

During the game, though, the cooked-to-order line backs up, and you risk missing a half-inning, a full inning or maybe even more. At my first two games, I either gave up and left the line or didn’t even bother.

HOW MUCH: A chicken stir-fry costs $17.49.