Just over two months of baseball remain in the Memphis Redbirds’ 2022 season. The team will alternate six-game series at home and on the road the next 10 weeks. Playing their first season in the International League, the Redbirds have a chance at their first playoff berth since winning the 2018 Triple-A national championship. Here are four story lines we’ll follow as the fabled “dog days” arrive.
• The Redbirds must beat Columbus . . . oh, wait. Memphis occupies third place in the IL’s West Division, behind Nashville and Columbus. So it stands to reason the Redbirds need to handle the Clippers if they’re to climb toward first place. Well, it’s problematic as the teams don’t play each other this season. For whatever reason, Memphis does not face four teams in its own division (also Louisville, St. Paul, and Toledo). We now live in a world where six-game series are the norm for cost-cutting minor-league operations. But please, let’s reconsider schedules so teams play those it must beat to reach the postseason. (Memphis does play first-place Nashville nine more times. Alas, all the games are in Middle Tennessee. Worth the drive, especially, perhaps, the last three games of the season: September 26-28.)
• The Jordan Walker watch continues . . . and grows. The slugging third-baseman has climbed to seventh in some rankings of minor-league prospects. Only 20 years old, Walker has hit .301 with an .873 OPS at Double-A Springfield. He could be a one-man infusion of offense for a Memphis team that already leads the International League in home runs.
But will Walker even be in the St. Louis Cardinals’ system by the time you read this? The Cards have been in the mix of the saltiest trade rumor this summer, one that would have Washington Nationals’ star Juan Soto — the 23-year-old All-Star turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer from his current team earlier this month — headed to Busch Stadium. It’s hard to envision such a deal taking place without Walker going to D.C. (His journey to the big leagues would be accelerated in the Nats’ system as the club occupies the cellar of the National League East.) Here’s hoping we get a glimpse of Walker at AutoZone Park, even if it’s brief.
• Memphis Mafia II? A friend asked me last week if the Cardinals would receive any promotions from Memphis for their postseason push. My answer: They already have. St. Louis has already been impacted by Brendan Donovan, Juan Yepez, and Nolan Gorman, all players who started their season with the Redbirds. It calls to mind the famed “Memphis Mafia” of David Freese, Allen Craig, Jon Jay, and Daniel Descalso, a quartet who made their big-league debuts in 2010, then helped the Cardinals win the World Series in 2011. Donovan is a Rookie of the Year candidate, having started games at six different positions for St. Louis. Gorman has added nine home runs with the Cardinals to the 15 he slammed for Memphis to start the season. And Yepez, frankly, was born to DH, an important component now of National League batting orders. Keep in mind, also, that one of these players could be in a trade package to acquire Soto from Washington. Impact, indeed.
• DeJong’s example. Say what you will about Paul DeJong, for five years the Cardinals’ regular shortstop before a demotion in May when he struggled to begin the season. But acknowledge the veteran’s professionalism. He’s taken his work to Triple-A ballparks, searching for the consistency at the plate that eludes so many on their way to the big leagues, but escapes even major-league All-Stars at certain career crossroads. DeJong is making $9 million this season and is under contract for one more with the Cardinals, which makes him yet another trade candidate, particularly with Tommy Edman having taken over at short for St. Louis. He’s hit 15 home runs and has an eye-popping 49 RBIs in 49 games for Memphis. DeJong’s next call to the major leagues may feel even better than his first.
