St. Louis Cardinals top pandemic draft pick already being compared to Pujols, Taveras
The 6-foot, 5-inch teenager draped himself over the dugout railing as he laughed and blushed as he was asked about the torrid start to his minor league career.
He’s been drawing rave reviews and a great deal of attention as he settled into his new level.
Jordan Walker, the third baseman who the St. Louis Cardinals drafted in the first round of the 2020 MLB draft, had been a Peoria Chief for less than 96 hours, but found himself on Thursday night in the same ballpark as two senior executives in the Cardinals baseball operations department. Also present was the team’s most senior roving coach and instructor, as well as the West Michigan Whitecaps, against whom he made his high-A debut on Wednesday night.
“I’m definitely excited,” Walker said after recapping both his first hit at High-A as well as a screaming line drive that hooked just foul of becoming his first home run. “Everything about this is pretty exciting. I’m ready to go.”
His busy relocation and the focus on his work meant he hadn’t heard about the comments made by Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak on Monday, when he compared the young slugger’s hitting prowess to that of Albert Pujols and Oscar Taveras.
“Honestly, that’s pretty cool to hear,” he said. “I’m pretty excited to hear that, but I’m just trying to keep it going right now.”
From a Georgia high school to Peoria IL
That comparison is neither unreasonable nor entirely unexpected.
Walker recorded an eye-popping .374 batting average and .687 slugging percentage in 122 plate appearances for low-A Palm Beach, smashing six homers and 11 doubles while playing more than half of his games in cavernous Roger Dean Stadium, which his new manager, Chris Swauger, called, “statistically the worst stadium in minor league baseball.”
“All the reports we got out of him was how mature he was, how far advanced he was,” Swauger said. “So I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised, but it’s always nice to see it come to fruition.”
Having been drafted in the middle of the pandemic, Walker started his geographic path to the big leagues in a way that may be unique in the history of the organization. He was assigned to the team’s alternate camp in Springfield last summer before moving from Palm Beach to Peoria thus far his summer.
Springfield to Palm Beach to Peoria, advancing a level each time, is the reverse of the direction in which the organizational arrow pointed prior to this summer, which means Walker is the only player to date in the history of the organization to walk his precise path.
“It was unbelievable,” Walker said of his experience last summer in the alternate site camp, just months after graduation from high school. “In high school, they didn’t throw very hard and they didn’t throw strikes. These dudes threw 95 and they threw exactly where they wanted.
“I was just, like, mind blown. That’s a big difference.”
Quick climb toward MLB
Swauger was running last summer’s alternate site when Walker arrived after signing, the result of a shuffling of coaches following the major league team’s COVID-19 outbreak.
Though he joked that Walker’s only been in Peoria for two days and he might need a little more time to make an assessment, he’s seen growth in the player who MLB Pipeline currently ranks as the team’s sixth best prospect — a ranking which is sure to shoot up this winter.
“He’s done a great job,” Swauger said. “He’s assimilated into our clubhouse, no problem.
“His numbers in low-A were outstanding. I guess it’s not really a surprise when you take a guy where we did (first round, 21st overall). You’re drafting the talent, and sure, it’s showing. But it doesn’t always necessarily translate. Talent doesn’t always necessarily translate to production right away. So when you kind of got them both going hand in hand, that’s really nice.”
That poise and production were on display at Dozer Park on Thursday night. In Walker’s second at bat in the first game of a double header, he fouled a pitch off his leg and sat briefly on the ground in clear pain. He walked it off, stood back in, and drove the next pitch to right field on a sharp single.
Following a fly out to left by catcher Pedro Pages, first baseman Brady Whalen singled to left field. Walker, running with the ball in front of him, made an aggressive turn at second and was easily safe at third base, allowing him to score on a two-out single by designated hitter Leandro Cedeño.
A future at third base?
Strong instincts and a stronger bat are important, but there’s also a belief that his raw athleticism will translate defensively.
With his height and his large frame — he’s listed at 225 pounds but says he’s added about 10 pounds of muscle — there was concern upon his being drafted that he might have to move away from third base.
Cardinals evaluators don’t believe that will be necessary.
Staff on hand Thursday night in part to turn a watchful eye on Walker, see a studious player with the raw athleticism that will allow him to stay on the hot corner. If eventually he’s moved due to need or performance, that experience should provide a baseline for either first base or perhaps right or left field.
Moving, however, is not on Walker’s mind, unless he’s moving up. He has plans and goals, and while he’s thrilled to be in Peoria, this is hardly the destination he has in mind.
“If I do what I come here to plan to do, then the results will come,” Walker said. “I just focus on doing what I need to do — hitting, fielding, learning how to play the field, learn how to be a good base runner or how to be a good hitter, right?
“Then the results will come, even if they have to move me to a new position, anything like that. I just want to make it to that level.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 11:53 AM.
