Checking in on Jordan Walker

One of the Cardinals' most promising young talents has been faring better of late

After a rough and unproductive first month of the season, outfielder Jordan Walker – one of the most important young players in the entire organization – was dispatched back to Memphis for remedial hitting work. 

Walker’s undoing during those early weeks of the 2024 season was his low quality of contact. He’d actually made impressive strides in terms of exit velocity, ramping up from an 89.4 mph figure in 2023 to 91.7 mph this season in St. Louis. However, at the same time he reverted to old habits when it comes to hitting the ball on the ground. Most damning of all, Robert Orr’s swing-decision database credited Walker with exactly zero pulled fly balls during that first month. Walker’s success at the highest level will hinge on his realized capacity to hit for power, which means doing aerial damage more consistently than he’s been able to achieve thus far.

As for the mechanical adjustments, here’s how Walker recently characterized them to the Memphis Flyer: 

“I’m trying to relax. I’ve shortened my stance a bit. So I’m not as rigid when I start my swing. I feel like I’m seeing the ball better.”

At this juncture, we’re almost two months into Walker’s Triple-A intermezzo, and his recent improved fortunes raise the possibility that he’ll be back in St. Louis reasonably soon. So how’s he looking? We’ll explore via a couple of different comparisons. First, we’ll compare his outputs at the big-league level in April to his overall Triple-A numbers thus far. Then we’ll chop up his Triple-A numbers so that we can isolate his recent step forward at the plate.