Rookie Walker’s game-winning hit gives Cardinals a building block moment
.jpg "St. Louis Cardinals’ Jordan Walker celebrates after hitting a three-run triple during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)")
The right way to measure the remainder of this lost season for the St. Louis Cardinals is in moments. The wins and losses are largely cosmetic, but if inside them the team can find hope for the future, then that day at the ballpark is a positive one.
And so it was on Monday night, when a flick of Jordan Walker’s wrists sent a medium trajectory fly ball on a path toward the right-center gap at more than 100 miles per hour.
Despite the solid contact, on an unseasonably cool night nonetheless leaden down by humidity, Walker found himself willing a little more loft, until it clanked off right fielder Seth Brown’s glove for a game winning, three-run triple, the first of his young career.
“Bases loaded, man. We’re down by one, I’ve gotta put that ball in play,” Walker said at his locker on Monday night. “I can’t swing and miss there, and I can’t strike out there. So I did everything I can just to put that ball in play.”
Walker was the seventh hitter to come to the plate in the bottom of the seventh for St. Louis, and he was the first to cross the ball-in-play bridge. Paul Goldschmidt, Andrew Knizner, Tyler O’Neill and Lars Nootbaar all walked in turn, with Nolan Arenado and Luken Baker striking out looking to add a little spice to the proceedings.
Walker took a ball on the first three pitches of his at bat, and then thought he took a fourth. Home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso disagreed, and so Walker shook off a questionable call and again made himself ready to hit.
“It’s impressive to not give in to when you think there’s a bad call or anything like that,” manager Oliver Marmol said of his 21-year-old rookie. “That’s one of the traits he has that’s actually pretty impressive for his age. He’s got plenty of those, but that’s definitely one.”
Hunting contact, Walker drew on what he knew from study and scouting about Oakland lefty Francisco Pérez. The lefty leans on two pitches, a fastball and a slider, and frequently tries to use the breaking ball on the back door to sneak strikes past right-handers.
“Once it was 3-1, I knew he probably wasn’t going to challenge me with too many fastballs,” Walker explained, “[but] he came with a fastball and I missed it [for a foul ball]. And then he went to that backdoor slider, and that’s his usual pitch, his go-to pitch, so I was sitting on it for the rest of the at bat.”
After fouling off a slider, Pérez did indeed come back to the fastball, against Walker’s expectations. But in being prepared and settling into a contact first approach, Walker was able to, “just kind of flick it the other way.”
To flick a ball with your wrists at a triple digit exit velocity demonstrates a simply outrageous amount of skill and talent, but to be in a position to do so requires skill and understanding. Walker freely admitted that developing that part of his game has been part of his learning curve throughout his rookie season.
“Sometimes I’ll catch myself just going out there, free swinging,” Walker admitted. “I think we keep success just having an approach every single at bat, and I think that’s really the main focus as of right now.
“Later on, we’ll get into the more difficult stuff. But as simple as possible, the thing I need to master right now is just to have a consistent approach every time I go up to bat.”
Goldschmidt, who hit a towering home run earlier in the game to give the Cardinals the lead that Walker would reclaim, is the ideal role model for that learning project. Despite his own offensive downturn in recent weeks, what he’s lauded for – what’s driven his success his entire career – is his ability to look the same at the plate, every time, night in and night out.
He might not always get to it, but Goldschmidt always has a destination in mind. In contrast to Walker’s grip-it-and-rip-it habits, his are rock solid. Learning those and then putting them into action is, as Walker sees it, his best path to the career he wants and knows he’s capable of achieving.
“First year in the big leagues, sometimes I’m really excited, trying to do too much,” Walker said. “Having to stay with my approach and not overswing is something I’ve learned.”
It’s one thing to learn it, but another to put it into action and then be rewarded for the payoff.
Monday, in the middle of a too-hard-fought victory against the worst team in the majors, there was a moment of that success, and a building block on which the Cardinals can start to cement hopes that 2024 and years beyond won’t reflect what this year has become.
“You want him in those moments, and when he comes through, it’s awesome to see,” Marmol said. “He’s going to have a lot of those throughout his career here.”
