Inside The Cardinals

Watch Cardinals Rising Star Jordan Walker Find Out He Made Opening Day Roster

'You deserve every bit of being with us opening day'

Scott Neville

Watch Cardinals Rising Star Jordan Walker Find Out He Made Opening Day Roster
Watch Cardinals Rising Star Jordan Walker Find Out He Made Opening Day Roster /
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The St. Louis Cardinals made a surprising move when they elected to place a 20-year-old slugger with zero experience at the Triple-A level onto their Opening Day roster.

That player of course is outfielder Jordan Walker -- the No. 4 prospect in the league according to MLB Pipeline. 

Fortunately, the Cardinals decided to capture the moment when Walker received the good news about his promotion. 

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol let his prized prospect know exactly why he's giving him a chance. 

"The separator when watching you this entire camp was very simple," Marmol told Walker. "When you faced adversity, you weren't bothered by it."

Mormol explained how Walker's best skill all camp was his ability to cancel out the noise and battle adversity. Then he let Walker know why he called him in.

"You deserve every bit of being with us Opening Day," Marmol said.

Walker put the team on notice last season when he hit .304 with 53 extra-base hits including 19 home runs, 22 stolen bases and a .898 OPS in 119 games for Double-A Springfield.

He followed up his strong season with an impressive spring. The former first-round pick hit .277 with five doubles, three home runs, nine RBIs two steals and a .791 OPS in 20 games. 

The young slugger did have a 15-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in big-league camp, which is something to keep an eye on. 

That said, Walker is one of the highest-regard prospects in the game and could be on the fast track to stardom.

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox."  After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu