Cardinals Send Former Star Slugger To The Minors

He was a Top-3 prospect for four years running, and one of the young players who would be part of the next core of the St. Louis Cardinals. A slugging infielder who ripped 27 homers in his first full big league season in 2023, in just 119 games. But Nolan Gorman has had a precipitous fall since then, and today, he was optioned back to Triple-A.

The #STLCards are promoting infielder Blaze Jordan and optioning Nolan Gorman to AAA, per @dgoold

Additionally, they sent RHP Hunter Dobbins to Memphis and recalled RHP Chris Roycroft

2026 has been rough for Gorman, to say the least. He is slashing .194/.279/.318 (.598 OPS) on… pic.twitter.com/q7GbCCRMB8
— STL Sports Central (@STLSprtsCntrl) June 12, 2026

Gorman is hitting just .194 this season with a .598 OPS, as his production has continued to fall off the table. Over his last 17 games, he's struck out 27 times in 50 at-bats and his OPS+ in that span is a horrid minus-22. That's 122% below the league average hitter.

Prospect Blaze Jordan has been called up to take his spot on the St. Louis roster. The 23-year-old infielder has a .921 OPS with 11 homers at Triple-A this year, and he'll be making his big league debut.

Welcome to The Show, Blaze!

We have selected the contract of INF Blaze Jordan from Memphis (AAA). pic.twitter.com/lIw1RYva9R
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 12, 2026

Cardinals fans are giving new president of baseball operations, Chaim Bloom, a ton of credit for not standing pat with the old guard. He shipped out Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan before the season to kick the rebuild into high gear. And the team has surprisingly been a solid playoff contender this year as they hold the top Wild Card spot in the NL at this point with a 37-29 record going into the weekend.