Jordan Walker

Jordan Alexander Walker

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 5", Weight 220 lb.
• High School Decatur (GA) High School
• Debut March 30, 2023

• Born May 22, 2002 in Stone Mountain, GA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Third baseman Jordan Walker was drafted in the 1st round, 21st overall, by the St. Louis Cardinals, in the 2020 amateur draft. He had to wait until the following year to begin his professional career, since the draft was held while the minor leagues were shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. His career began with the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Low-A Southeast, where he hit .374 in 27 games. He was obviously too good for the level and was quickly promoted to the Peoria Chiefs of the High-A Central, where he played another 55 games, hitting .292. Overall in 82 games, his slash line was .317/.388/.548, with 25 doubles and 14 homers. He was named an organizational All-Star at the end of the season. In 2022, he moved up to the AA Texas League with the Springfield Cardinals. He continued to hit very well there and was named to the National League team for the 2022 Futures Game which was played at Dodger Stadium on July 16th. He finished the year at .306/.388/.510 in 119 games, with 31 doubles and 19 homers.

He was one of the main attractions for the Cardinals in spring training in 2023 as there was speculation that he could skip AAA altogether and open the season with the team - albeit not as a third baseman. Given the position was occupied at the major league level by Nolan Arenado for the foreseeable future, and because at 6' 5", Walker would be very tall for a third baseman, the Cardinals moved him to the outfield in the second half of the 2022 season, and that's where he was playing that spring. He helped his cause by displaying excellent power in camp, with 5 doubles and 3 homers in 18 games. On March 25th, the Cardinals announced that Walker had made the team and would be added to the 26-man roster for Opening Day. This could not help by remind the team's fans of one Albert Pujols, who had also jumped past AAA to make the team's opening day line-up back in 2001. He started in right field against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 30th, going 1 for 5 with an RBI in a 10-9 loss; at 20 years and 312 days, he was the youngest player to make his debut for the Cardinals since pitcher Rick Ankiel had done so at 20 years, 35 days on August 23, 1999. He hit his first career homer on April 5th against Michael Tonkin of the Atlanta Braves in a 5-2 loss. When his hitting streak to start his career reached nine games on April 9th, it put him in rare company, as only Eddie Murphy (who had hit safely in 12 straight to start his career in 1912) and the great Ted Williams (also with 9 in 1939), had done so before him at age 20 or younger. He was batting .353 at that point and made it ten straight games with another hit the next day, and tied Murphy on April 12th. Before that, he had also set a new team record for longest hitting streak from the start of a career, having passed Magneuris Sierra's 9 games in 2017 earlier. The streak ended with an ofer on April 13th. He slowed down markedly after that and before the month was over, on April 26th, he was sent down to AAA, a level he had skipped on his way to the bigs. He still managed to hit .276 in 117 games for St. Louis, with 16 homers and 51 RBIs for an OPS+ of 113, while he hit just .239 in 29 games in AAA.

Following his fine rookie season, one would have expected Jordan to have established himseld as a big leaguer, but it wasn't the case as he got off to a terrible start in 2024, hitting just .155 in 20 games through April 23rd. That sent him back to the Memphis Redbirds, and apart from a week spent in St. Louis in mid-August, during which he went 1 for 11, he wasn't back in the bigs until August 30th. Meanwhile, he had done all right in AAA, hitting .263 in 84 games with 9 homers and 37 RBIs. He was thus well south of the Mendoza Line when he had a career game against the New York Yankees on September 1st, going 5 for 5 with his first big league homer of the season in a 14-7 win over the Bronx Bombers. It was the first five-hit game of his career.

Further Reading

• John Denton: "'Dude’s a monster': Cardinals players, execs alike in awe of top prospect Walker", mlb.com, March 9, 2022. [1]
• John Denton: "The new Pujols? Walker's forcing the comparison: With 2-HR game, MLB's No. 4 prospect continues his charge to leap from Double-A to Majors", mlb.com, March 4, 2023. [2]
• John Denton: "Can Jordan Walker possibly be this good already?", mlb.com, March 24, 2023. [3]
• John Denton: "Cards top prospect Walker makes Opening Day roster", mlb.com March 25, 2023. [4]
• John Denton: "Air Jordan! Walker makes father's day with first MLB homer", mlb.com, April 5, 2023. [5]
• John Denton: "Walker won't soon forget 5-hit day as Cards drub Yankees: Career game by former top prospect keys outburst in rubber match in Bronx", mlb.com, September 1, 2024. [6]
• Jeff Jones (Belleville News -Democrat): "St. Louis Cardinals’ prospect Jordan Walker pounding at door for a roster spot in 2023", Yahoo! News, February 27, 2023. [7]
• Owen Perkins: "Cards phenom Walker one-ups Ted Williams", mlb.com, April 11, 2023. [8]
• Liz Roscher: "Struggling Cardinals demote rookie Jordan Walker to Triple-A after hot start cools down", Yahoo! Sports, April 27, 2023. [9]
• Stephanie Sheehan: "Walker posts second career multihomer game", mlb.com, June 3, 2022. [10]
• Joe Trezza: "Still only 19, Cards top prospect Walker white-hot at Double-A", mlb.com, May 14, 2022. [11]

Related Sites

• Jordan Walker on mlb.com
• BR Minors page