Jordan Walker, a young outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, has a crucial year ahead of him in 2025.
The career of the former top-five baseball prospect has not gone well. Walker is slashing in 738 at-bats during the regular season. only 24 home runs, 92 runs batted in, and 11 stolen bases in a 247/.307/.400 line. Those aren’t exactly stats that shout “top prospect” or light up scoreboards.
Walker plans to establish his value in the 2025 season.
During Spring Training, Walker stated, “I dream about being a Hall of Famer, the World Series, and the All-Star Games.” “Working in the sweltering sun at seven in the morning is not what you dream about.” But this is what I need to realize all my ambitions. I simply want to keep dreaming about those types of things and take things one step at a time.
Walker didn’t have a very strong start to the season. Walker was scorching through his first 34 games of the season. 180/.252/.246. In addition to recording just four extra base hits, including two home runs and two doubles, he was striking out 32 percent of the time. Walker wasn’t doing anything up until that time of year. The runway at Walker was getting shorter.
Jordan Walker has been on a tear for the Cardinals since May 14th
Jordan Walker has been among the Cardinals’ top hitters since May 14. His slash line has been improved to.214/.269/.312. Walker is slashing.344/.344/.531 with a home run, a triple, and two doubles since May 14th, during which he went 2-4 with a triple in Tuesday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles. Of his eleven hits, six have been singles.
Walker’s record-tying 114.4 mph single against Baltimore Orioles pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano on Tuesday was the eighth of his 11 hits in this run that came on pitches hit faster than 100 miles per hour.
Fifty percent of the time, Walker makes mistakes. You will get terrific results if you hit the ball as hard as he does while pulling it. In baseball, pulled balls are usually some of the most productive. Walker should ideally have an average launch angle higher than the 8.8 degrees he has reported over the past two weeks, but for now, you’ll take what you can.
Walker has been playing neutral defense in right field while he works on his offensive game. Walker, who was most recently a -4 defender in OAA, is now a neutral defender according to Outs Above Average, thanks in part to assistant coach Jon Jay. Additionally, his arm strength is in the 96th percentile for all of baseball.
The youthful corner outfielder seems to be beginning to benefit from Walker’s and manager Oliver Marmol’s patience. Jordan Walker is still younger than almost half of the Cardinals’ top ten MLB Pipeline prospects, after all.
Walker’s growth still has a long way to go. Although he still has trouble breaking balls down and away, he appears to have improved over the past two weeks. It will be challenging to maintain this level of output for the foreseeable future, but Walker is obviously doing something right these days.
