Spring training is where hope blooms and projections begin to take shape, especially for a team like the St. Louis Cardinals, who are leaning heavily on their next wave of talent.
One name that’s generating real buzz inside the organization - and catching some national attention - is outfielder Victor Scott. The Cardinals are clearly intrigued by his potential, and based on what we’re hearing, there’s reason to be optimistic.
Scott’s journey to this point has been anything but conventional. Drafted less than two years ago, some within the Cardinals organization initially believed he needed more time at the lower levels before making the leap.
But Scott has sprinted - quite literally - through the system, and now he’s on the doorstep of a major league role. The speed is elite.
We're talking game-changing, top-of-the-scale wheels. He stole 34 bases in 2025, and that’s despite limited opportunities due to his struggles getting on base.
The issue? You can’t steal first - and that’s where Scott knows he needs to evolve.
Offensively, the numbers haven’t been pretty so far. A .206 average and a .576 OPS across 543 big-league at-bats paint a clear picture: the bat hasn’t caught up to the legs.
But Scott isn’t standing still. During the Cardinals’ Winter Warm-Up, he spoke openly about the work he’s put in to overhaul his swing.
He went back to West Virginia University, where he worked with biomechanists to break down his mechanics. The focus was on efficiency - tightening up his hip rotation, adjusting his shin angle, and shortening the path of his swing.
The goal? A more compact, repeatable motion that gets him to the ball quicker and puts him in position to use his speed.
He’s also gone all-in on bunting, knowing that even a modest improvement in that area could dramatically raise his on-base potential. In 2025, he went just 7-for-26 on bunt attempts and had 32 failed tries due to fouls or misses.
That’s not going to cut it, but the intent is there, and the offseason grind has been real. He’s trying to weaponize his speed in every way possible.
Manager Oli Marmol has been vocal in his praise of Scott, calling attention to his work ethic and upside. And Scott himself has said he wants to come into 2026 as a “totally different player.” That kind of mindset, paired with the physical tools, gives the Cardinals something to work with - even if there’s still a lot of development ahead.
Of course, Cardinals fans have seen this movie before. Just last year, the team was similarly high on Jordan Walker, who entered 2025 with lofty expectations and a new hitting coach in Brant Brown. But Walker struggled to find consistency, and while Scott believes Walker is making strides - noting he looks “shorter to the ball” - the organization was noticeably more reserved in their public comments about him this winter.
That brings us back to Scott. Players who rely on speed as their calling card don’t have unlimited time to figure out the rest of their game.
Sprint speed is one of the few tools that tends to decline with age, not improve. Right now, Scott ranks tied for second in the majors at 30.2 feet per second.
That’s elite. But unless he can pair that with a reliable offensive skill - whether it’s bunting, slap hitting, or drawing walks - it’s going to be tough to carve out a long-term role.
Still, there’s no denying the excitement. In a season where the Cardinals are openly rebuilding - something that hasn’t been said in decades - Scott represents a different kind of hope.
Not just a piece of the future, but potentially the spark plug for a new era. If he can unlock just enough at the plate to let his speed shine, the Cardinals might have their center fielder of the future already in house.
And if he breaks out in 2026, it won’t just be the Cardinals watching - it’ll be the rest of the league trying to figure out how to catch up.