Jordan Walker can't be Cardinals emergency plan despite recent surge in Memphis

As the St. Louis Cardinals battle for the third National League Wild Card spot, they should also have one eye on Memphis. September call-ups are just a few weeks ago, and expanded rosters offer a team like St. Louis the chance to bring in some much-needed reinforcements for a team running on fumes.

The Cardinals are still two games back of that third Wild Card spot, and 4-6 in their last ten games. That's enough of an alarm to call on hands on deck. John Mozeliak and St. Louis would be remiss if they didn't at least give one of their top prospects, Jordan Walker, the call. Walker has MLB experience but struggled to open the season. Mozeliak has rightly preached patience as it pertains to Walker, a young player who is expected to play an important role in the team's long-term future.

Nonetheless, Mozeliak can also learn a lesson from the likes of Dylan Carlson, a former top prospect who much like Walker succeeded in his first big-league stint. Thereafter, Carlson struggled, just as Walker has.

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Should the St. Louis Cardinals call up Jordan Walker yet?

Walker had seven total bases in Memphis last game against Gwinnett. He followed that up with another home run on Sunday.

When Walker was initially sent down, much of it was centered around needing a reset. Just over a week ago, the Cardinals opted to call up Victor Scott II rather than Walker when Michael Siani went down with an injury.

“There was a lot of discussion around it and thinking about what’s best for Jordan’s development; going down to a lower-stake environment and working on the things that he’s been working on the last several weeks made sense,”Marmol said at the time. “I had a good conversation with him this morning, and he felt good about going down there, getting in the work and getting back to producing."

However, the Cardinals sense of urgency to win now has gone up considerably since then. It's August, of course, and the postseason chase is upon us. If St. Louis fails to make the playoffs, both Marmol and Mozeliak could be on the chopping block. Still, this isn't the sort of decision the Cards can rush, or base purely on the short-term goals of the front office.

That sort of thinking has burned them before.