When the St. Louis Cardinals acquired Jason Heyward last offseason from the Atlanta Braves, they also got reliever Jordan Walden, who they were expecting to make a big impact. However, the right-hander pitched only 12 games before a shoulder injury sidelined him for the rest of 2015.
The Cards hope that they'll get a full, healthy season out of the 28-year-old in 2016 after he returned to the mound in spring training on Friday for the first time since being sidelined with a shoulder strain on April 29.
The right-hander threw 18 pitches to cap off a scoreless sixth inning in the Cardinals' 6-3 loss to the Houston Astros on Friday. He struck out the first two batters that he faced and then got the third to fly out to left field. Not bad for a guy who hadn't thrown a competitive pitch in over 10 months.
"I've thrown a lot of bullpens, but you can't simulate an actual game," Walden told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. "That's where I was rusty. Just mentally preparing and going through it. ... At this point, I'm feeling good and have been feeling good all spring. I'm trying to keep it that way."
He may have to work on getting back his control because he threw only eight of his 18 pitches for strikes.
The Cardinals are Walden's third MLB team. He arrived in Atlanta in 2013 after three years with the Los Angeles Angels and was then part of one of the biggest offseason trades last year when the Braves sent him and Heyward to St. Louis in exchange for pitchers Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins.
In 243 career games, the former 12th-round draft pick is 12-14 with a 3.00 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 266 strikeouts and 39 saves in 222 innings.
Those number would certainly be a helpful addition to the Cardinals' bullpen, which ranked third in the MLB last season with a 2.82 ERA over 485 innings. The club also led the MLB in total ERA (2.94) thanks to their stellar starting rotation.
But that's perhaps bound to change in 2016 following the losses of starters Lance Lynn (Tommy John surgery), John Lackey (signed with Chicago Cubs) as well as relievers Steve Cishek, Matt Belisle, Carlos Villanueva and Randy Choate to free agency.
It seems as if the Cardinals hope Walden, Jonathan Broxton and Seung Hwan Oh will deliver strong campaigns next season and take some pressure of closer Trevor Rosenthal, who has averaged 71 innings per year over the past three seasons.
The club especially hopes that Walden can make a successful return considering he refused surgery and instead opted to rehab his injured shoulder. He's beginning that comeback right now in what could be his contract year. He's signed on for $3.675 million in 2016 and has a $5.25 million team option for 2017.
