In somewhat of a shocking move, the St. Louis Cardinals optioned promising 20-year-old rookie outfielder Jordan Walker to the minor leagues on Wednesday.

Walker burst onto the MLB scene less than a month ago after an impressive spring training run. He made his debut on Opening Day and began his career with a record-tying 12-game hitting streak.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told media members Wednesday said the decision was made, in part, due to a logjam of outfielders and young hitters, an opportunity he hopes will provide those at the top level more frequent opportunities.

“There is a need for some of these guys to go out there more often and get into a little bit of rhythm, and they just haven’t been able to do that because we do have five guys that are all deserving of playing every day,” Marmol said, pointing to guys often rotated like Alec Burleson, Dylan Carlson and Tyler O’Neill. “But we didn’t have a chance of sending the same guys out there often enough for them to get into a rhythm based on that logjam.”

For the first time in his young MLB career, St. Louis Cardinals rookie outfielder Jordan Walker went hitless Thursday night. Walker’s season-opening hitting streak was snapped at 12 games against the Pittsburgh Pirates and starter Vince Velasquez at Busch Stadium (PIT 5, STL 0). Walker went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, a ground out to second and a fly out to center.

Entering Thursday, Walker had hit safely in every game this season, and the 12-game hitting streak tied Eddie Murphy of the 1912 Philadelphia Athletics for the longest by a player age 20 or younger to begin his career. Hall of Famer Ted Williams, arguably the greatest hitter to ever live, is the only other player to hit safely in as many as his first nine career games at age 20 or younger. Williams was of course with the Boston Red Sox.

Here are the longest hitting streaks to begin a career regardless of age:

David Dahl, 2016 Rockies: 17 games
Chuck Aleno, 1941 Reds: 17 games
Nap Lajoie, 1901 Athletics: 16 games
Danny Green, 1901 Cubs: 15 games
Sam Crawford, 1901 Reds: 15 games