One way or another, 2026 is destined to be The Year of Jordan Walker. What remains to be seen is whether this season is defined by a launch-angle revolution and cornerstone coronation, or by the frustrating realization that the 'still waiting’ phase of his development has no end in sight."
We’ve watched the good-bad-good Walker performance pattern during the first 10 days of the season. But here’s the thing: that brief but ugly stretch of strikeouts and plate futility set Walker up for a redemptive prove-it showcase.
A chance to bust the swoon with a reassuring return to power and positivity. The strikeouts? Yes, they’re still an issue for this towering, Statcast monument. But this time, Walker struck back.
Here’s the pattern I’m referring to:
+ First three games, yes! Walker smashed up the Tampa Bay pitching staff: 4 for 10, two doubles, a home run, three RBIs, two walks, a strikeout and a big-man slash line of .400/.500/.900.
+ Next four games, oh no! A sense of foreboding. In the three-game series against the Mets, followed by the first game at Detroit: 1 for 13 (.077) with a walk and five strikeouts. Walker’s whiffin’ strikeout rate took him down into a familiar spin of failure for an alarming 35.7% strikeout rate. After taking one big step, now he’d stepped into a crater again. Could Walker escape his past?
+ Walker answered during his final two games at Comerica Park: 4 for 7, a quadruple-dynamite grand-slam home run, five RBIs and a .571 batting average adorned with a 1.625 OPS. Oh, and a 100 mph strike from eight field to terminate a running Tiger at home plate.
Before I go completely bonkers here, I want to toss in a note of caution: over his last six games, Walker has eight strikeouts in 22 plate appearances (36.3%). Then again, Walker isn’t waving at, and missing, those low-and-away pitches tormented him over the past two seasons. His willpower is leading to power hitting.
Here’s what I think we should do in the matter of Jordan Alexander Walker: avoid overreacting to a few great games by JAW, followed by a couple of his painful games that punch us in the jaw.
Rather than live day-to-day with the Walker fluctuations, let us focus on the body of work and the full menu of a season he’s trying to put together.
If we just gaze at everything Walker has done in his first nine games of his maybe-hopefully comeback campaign, but detach it from the past … Well, there is a lot to like.
(Obligatory paragraph: it’s early, small sample, grain-a-sand sample size, corn-flake sized sample, gnat-sized sample, calm down, molecule-sized sample, quinoa edible seed sized sample, table-salt sample, leftover Easter jellybean sample …)
If we look at the initial 5 and ½ percent of the 162-game schedule and the in-progress but hardly definitive statistics that go with it – I’ll take Walker’s early start for what it is.
And here’s what it is for Walker going into Monday’s series-opening game in the District of Columbia:
Jordan Walker ranks 1st or is tied for 1st among Cardinals in …
– Slugging percentage (.567)
– OPS (.949)
– Runs batted in (8)
– Runs scored (7)
– Total bases (17)
– WAR (0.5)
– OPS+ (175)
– wRC+ (170)
– wOBA (.417)
– Isolated Power (.267)
– The OPS+ means Walker is 75 percent above league average offensively. The wRC+ means he’s 70 percent above league average offensively.
– Walker is second with his .296 batting average and ranks third with a .367 on-base percentage. His walk rate (11.8%) would be a career high.
– Walker has been credited with two defensive runs saved in right field. Now, that is a positive change. His +1 Fielding Run Value is tied for third among NL right fielders.
– More on Walker’s 0.5 WAR through nine games: It may not seem like much. But it’s actually a little bit of a big deal – as much as anything can be sort of a big deal while the season is so young.
– Why? Because over the past two seasons combined Walker had a minus 1.8 WAR which ranked 316th among 316 position players with at least 500 plate appearances over the two years. Yes, that means he was the worst position player in the majors over a two-season session. But in 2026 his 0.5 WAR is tied for 18th in the National League.
– Walker goes into Monday as the NL’s 11th-ranked hitter, based on the FanGraphs offense rating.
I know the Statcast stuff isn’t for everybody. But the Statcast stuff and other metrics have a lot to do with why Walker is having success.
Through nine games, all of the components I’m about to list here would represent career bests for Walker if they hold up:
Hard hit rate, 71.4 percent.
Barrel rate, 19%
Average exit velocity, 97.1 mph
Bat speed, 79 mph
Launch angle, 11.8
Expected batting average, .287
Expected slugging percentage, .661
wOBA, .417
Fast swing percentage, 89.6%
Squared-up contact rate, 40%
Blast contact rate, 28.6%
Ideal attack angle rate, 68.8%
Ground ball rate (38%) is his lowest as in best
Fly-ball rate (43%) is his highest
Line-drive rate (19%) is his highest
Chasing pitches out of the zone (23.3%) is his lowest.
Swinging-strike rate (13.7%) is the lowest of his career.
Walker ranks in the upper 1 to 10 percent of all MLB players in average velo, bat speed, hard-hit rate, barrel percentage, and other categories.
For example, Walker is 6-6 and 250 pounds, but according to Statcast his sprint speed rates among the top five percent of big-league players. And his baserunning value is in the top five percent. Power and speed.
Early or not, this is a mighty impressive profile. And it presents his obvious improvement in so many vital areas.
Why Walker’s “ideal attack-angle rate” is so important in his development.
It shows the benefit of Walker’s ongoing transformation from ground-ball hitter to airborne hitter.
What is the ideal attack-angle rate? It measures the vertical angle at which the bat's path intersects the ball at the moment of contact. It is commonly defined as the “sweet spot” where a hitter maximizes his probability of high-value contact sourced from line drives and well-struck fly balls.
The Attack Angle is the angle of the bat's path, relative to the horizon, and it indicates a slight uppercut. Basically, Walker’s swing path has led him to the launching pad.
The Ideal Attack Angle Rate is between five degrees and 20 degrees. That’s how Walker’s immense strength and hard-hit capability can carry him to the most elevated height of his career. (Literally.) Much still depends on his plate discipline, refusal to chase stray pitches outside the zone and focus on powdering strikes.
Continued improvement in the strike-zone recognition and his swing decisions will determine the outcome of his 2026 season. What he’s been doing in 2026 can’t be temporary; this must last for Walker to become a superstar hitter.
Through Sunday, when Walker smacked a line drive or fly ball this season, he was 7 for 13 (.538) with two homers, two doubles, seven RBIs and a 1.154 slugging percentage. Add that all up and it translates to an offensive performance that’s a whopping 281 percent above league average offensively.
In his major-league career, including the opening act of 2026, Walker has a .366 average and a .723 slugging percentage when smoking a line drive or rocket-ride fly ball. Needless to say, all 29 of his career MLB homers have traveled through the air. And line drives and flies have generated 79.5 percent of his career doubles.
This is exactly why Cardinals coaches and analysts have pushed Walker to get his batted balls off the ground and into the air. And he seems to be figuring it out. His two home runs this season have averaged 436.5 feet. And his 459-foot grand slam Saturday in Detroit set a new Statcast era record (since 2015) for the longest grand slam in Cardinals history.
Jordan Walker: Cap’n Comeback?
Well, maybe. I hesitate only because I’ll be pointing to a miniscule sample that has as much weight as a fingernail.
The Cardinals have done their best hitting when trailing in games this season, which explains why four of their first five wins were staged on comeback rallies. (In the majors, only the Dodgers, with five, had more comeback victories.)
When the Cardinals are trying to catch up and push for another comeback triumph, Walker has gone 7 for 13 (.538) with two homers, two doubles, eight RBIs and a 1.154 slugging percentage. In high-leverage spots, Walker is hitting .429 with an .800 slug and 1.229 OPS.
“He’s playing the game a little bit with more freedom,” manager Oli Marmol said of Walker.
Thanks for reading, and please pardon my typos …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.