Jordan Walker a rising star waiting in wings

JUPITER, Fla. — The first indication that Jordan Walker is likely to be completely different — by way of a brimming confidence, a complicated maturity and a excessive baseball IQ — got here throughout a low-profile assembly between the Cardinals and the then-17-year-old prodigy in December 2019.

Walker, a considerably gawky teen on the time together with his lengthy limbs, bushy hair and toothy smile, was already very a lot on the membership’s radar within the months main as much as the 2020 MLB Draft due to the large potential saved inside his wide-shouldered, 6-foot-5, 220-pound body.

Walker appeared virtually too good to be true together with his 3.98 GPA, a scholarship supply to Duke University, a large and athletic body, a megawatt smile and a deep love of baseball. Deeply intrigued, Cardinals brass needed to see it for themselves.

The late scout Charles Peterson assembled a meet-and-greet in suburban Atlanta for a number of the high 2020 Draft prospects within the Southeast. The major focus for the Cards all alongside, nevertheless, was the 17-year-old from Decatur, Ga.

The second when the Cardinals actually fell for Walker — love at first sound, if you’ll — got here once they heard him communicate for himself.

“In those types of settings, usually the parents talk a lot more than the kids,” remembered Randy Flores, the Cardinals’ assistant normal supervisor and director of scouting. “Almost immediately, Jordan took possession of the session. He was very assured, however in a means that was understated, and he was very self-aware. He was comfy in his personal pores and skin, and it belied a maturity that made us much more intrigued.

“There’s a line that players often give when they are doing these interviews when you ask them about whether they would rather start their pro careers or collegiate careers,” Flores continued. “They usually give some prepared statement of, ‘I’m fine either way,’ and it sounds practiced and not authentic. In Jordan’s case, his face, his smile and his eyes showed you how authentic he was, and it seemed as if he was finding his way [as a young adult]. There was an ease to him that didn’t seem practiced or fake. In that split second, you came away from the conversation with him impressed with how comfortable he was with his path and where he was going in life.”

Where Walker can be going was into the Cardinals’ farm system because the No. 21 total decide in 2020. With the advantage of hindsight, it now appears implausible that seven excessive schoolers had been picked forward of him.

Now, after excelling at a COVID-impacted off-site camp in 2020, two Minor League seasons and within the Arizona Fall League, Walker, 20, is on the precipice of pushing his means onto the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster.

MLB Pipeline’s No. 4-overall ranked prospect wanted simply 10 Spring Training video games to start out pushing the door open, smashing three early dwelling runs distances of 470, 450 and 430 toes whereas racking up 5 multihit video games.

His solely misstep got here when discussing the overwhelming stuff of Gerrit Cole — a pitcher he singled off with a ball that left the bat at 102.6 mph. Seconds after letting slip a light curse phrase whereas praising the Yankees ace, Walker flashed a sheepish look and apologized.

“I can’t lie and say I haven’t been thinking about St. Louis,” stated Walker. “That’s definitely my dream, so I am going to continue to work for it. I feel like when the time is right, I’ll be there.”

To absolutely perceive how Walker turned this excellent package deal of dimension, talent and smarts, you will need to hint his path again to Decatur.

The center of three youngsters, Walker realized about work ethic and poise from his mother and father, Derek and Katrina Walker. Derek graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and now works at a software program growth firm in suburban Atlanta. Katrina acquired her undergraduate diploma at Harvard and a Master’s in Business Economics at Washington University in St. Louis. She would later get a second Master’s from Emory and have become a highschool instructor.

It’s no shock then that self-discipline and training had been vital within the Walker family. The household celebrated when Jordan earned a scholarship supply from Duke.

Walker at all times had a ardour for baseball, regardless that a number of coaches alongside the way in which tried to sway him towards soccer and basketball. Decatur High’s former soccer coach tried unsuccessfully to recruit Walker to his crew all 4 years. Walker stated the chorus from coaches, followers and rivals was typically the identical once they noticed somebody a head taller than everybody else enjoying baseball.

“People have always told me that I’m too big for baseball, but I don’t really care about what they say,” Walker stated with a hearty giggle following a Spring Training sport the place he shared the sphere with Yankees sluggers Aaron Judge (6-foot-7) and Giancarlo Stanton (6-foot-6). “I feel like people overlook the fact that big guys can be athletic, too. Guys like Oneil Cruz, Stanton and Judge — Judge is pretty athletic for his size — and all those guys are athletes.”

Walker’s love of baseball got here from his grandfather, Adolphus, and his father. After rising up in South Carolina, Adolphus moved to Atlanta as a younger man and shortly turned a Braves fan.

“There probably weren’t five games in his life after he moved to Atlanta that he didn’t listen to on the radio,” Derek stated of his father. “He passed down that love of baseball to me, and I passed it to Jordan.”

Derek stated he and the household would normally attend a handful of Braves video games a season, however that quantity rose as Jordan grew older and have become extra invested in baseball. While Chipper Jones was Jordan’s favourite participant, former Brave Jeff Francoeur was the primary MLB participant he met in individual. That got here after Jordan batted .400 early in his highschool profession and certified for a meet-and-greet banquet.

Derek first took discover of MLB scouts (together with the Cardinals) and faculty coaches attending Jordan’s video games when he hit .519 with 17 dwelling runs as a junior in highschool. It was then that Derek began to suppose Jordan might sometime play professionally.

Quipped Jordan: “When people said I could play at the next level, I used to think they meant college.”

While Walker’s on-field upside was apparent, it was listening to scouts rave about their son’s smarts, maturity and character away from the baseball diamond that happy Derek and Katrina most.

“One of the best quotes he had coming up was when Perfect Game referred to him as ‘The Résumé’ because of his prospects on the field and how committed he was to his grades and how he handled himself off the field,” Derek stated. “To me, that was one of the best compliments they could have given him.”

No one has seen Jordan Walker play extra baseball than Jonathan Paden, the slugger’s coach from the time he starred on Decatur’s 7- and 8-year-old all-star crew. Paden’s son, Jaylen, and Jordan had been three months aside in age, and so they performed collectively for roughly 10 years. Jaylen is now a redshirt-sophomore pitcher at Georgia Southern University, the place he went 6-2 with 64 strikeouts in 71 1/3 innings in 2022.

Even although Jonathan Paden’s youth baseball groups normally performed up in age brackets, it didn’t take lengthy to see Walker’s superior maturity.

“The first time I coached Jordan was on that 7- and 8-year-old all-star team, and he was probably the youngest kid on that team,” stated Paden, who moved Walker from proper discipline to first base and finally to pitcher. “Even though he was so young, I still had him batting fourth or fifth, because he was already running the team by getting the big hits and driving in runs. It didn’t matter the competition; he might get fooled on one at-bat, but then he would come back the next time and drive the ball hard somewhere.”

One deep drive, particularly, acquired Jordan in a little bit of scorching water together with his grandmother, Deborah Wingfield. Playing on a youth discipline with a 120-foot fence, a then-8-year-old Jordan drove a ball out of the park and onto his grandmother’s automobile, which was parked effectively past the outfield fence.

“His grandmother still talks about that all the time — Jordan hitting her car with the baseball,” Derek Walker stated with amusing. “That was one of those early moments that made you say, ‘Wow.’ Most of those kids weren’t even getting the ball to the fence and Jordan hit it way over.”

Paden was Walker’s coach at Decatur High when Perfect Game ranked the blossoming slugger because the No. 1 highschool participant within the nation earlier than the 2020 season. Twice, Walker can be named Georgia’s Gatorade High School Player of the Year.

“He was the No. 1 player in the nation, and there was so much attention on Jordan,” Paden stated. “He was the tallest one on the crew, so he couldn’t disguise. We went to the Perfect Game Showcase, and as quickly as we stepped off the bus, folks can be shouting over to him, and there have been scouts in all places. All the groups would flip round and take a look at him, and he’d have cameramen in his face when he went out on the sphere to heat up. Yet, Jordan didn’t ever let that get to him.

“With Jordan, a lot of the stuff he does is impressive and amazing, but actually, it’s the same Jordan that I grew to know when he was coming up,” Paden added. “He’s still humble and respectful. You love to coach those type of players — ‘yes sir, no sir’ — and his parents and grandparents raised him well. I can’t say enough about the kid, because he checks all the boxes and it never got to his head.”

Flores additionally noticed how Walker gracefully dealt with the eye when he performed in all-star video games and travel-ball showcases. He believes one of many causes Walker has confirmed himself so prepared for MLB-level competitors this spring is due to the extraordinary scrutiny he’s confronted whereas arising in baseball.

“One thing I know about this generation that’s different from decades ago, it’s that they have played under a fishbowl as amateurs,” stated Flores. “You have so many third-party publications ranking these kids and so much social-media hype that follows them that they’re not able to have a bad game and hide as a high school player. There are so many video cameras up with every at-bat and posting about it on social media. The pressure that comes with just trying to get to the big leagues, the modern players are tackling that at ages that players of my generation didn’t have to tackle.”

Masyn Winn, the second participant picked by the Cardinals within the 2020 MLB Draft, considers himself “Jordan’s No. 1 hype man.” He stated he lately misplaced his voice when he screamed after Walker smashed a 430-foot dwelling run in Grapefruit League play. Winn, Walker’s roommate final yr at Double-A Springfield (Mo.), stated the slugger’s skills are outsized by most traditional measurements.

“I think Jordan threw a ball home [recently] that might have touched 100 [mph],” Winn stated. “It might have shocked people, but to me, that’s just Jordan. The way he catches a barrel, the way he fields, the way he throws and runs, he’s the complete package. Five tools? They’ve got to make a sixth tool for him.”

Winn, additionally 20 years previous and the No. 2-ranked participant within the Cardinals’ farm system, was additionally on the receiving finish of considered one of Walker’s most interesting performs on a baseball discipline.

Last August, Winn watched as Arkansas Travelers first baseman Connor Hoover smoked a line drive to proper discipline that had Walker turning to his proper after which again left. After fielding the carom, Walker seen Hoover making an attempt to stretch the hit right into a double. Winn, masking second base, instantly knew what was about to occur.

“I was like, ‘Oh he doesn’t know Walker’s arm from out there in right field!’” stated Winn, who caught Walker’s throw from the warning monitor on the fly for the tagout. “I just sat back and waited for the ball to come into the perfect spot, and it was a nice, easy play.”

Hoover isn’t the one one nonetheless getting used to seeing the Cardinals’ muscular massive man within the outfield; Winn remains to be adapting to not having his finest pal alongside him at third base.

The Cardinals shifted Walker from third to the outfield halfway via 2022. With 10-time Gold Glove winner Nolan Arenado ensconced at third in St. Louis, the transfer clears a path for him to get to the Major Leagues sooner.

The largest distinction?

“It’s a lot quieter in the outfield, because Masyn was always chirping at me over there from shortstop,” Walker joked.

Winn, who has teamed with Walker to turn into the discuss of Cardinals Spring Training, chirped loads of plaudits about his shut pal, saying: “Honestly, his hit tool is probably the best of anyone in the Minors. He’s just so good at baseball in every way, and somehow, he stays humble. He’s just got a really good head on him.”

Walker has additionally fairly the construct — one which continues to develop as he matures into one thing nearer to a completed product. In some ways, he appears to be like like an NFL tight finish or an NBA ahead, solely he’s in spikes and wraparound shades and absolutely dedicated to perfecting his craft in baseball.

In March 2022, when he got here to Major League Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, Walker, then about 230 kilos, regarded particularly skinny when standing alongside muscular veterans Tyler O’Neill and Paul Goldschmidt.

By late August 2022, Walker’s weight had hit 250 kilos — one thing that got here by design whereas working with Springfield power and conditioning coach Donald Trapp. Walker, who loves consuming Subway sandwiches as he battles Winn in NBA 2K video video games, stated the plan has been for him so as to add bulk, whereas persevering with to give attention to mobility and plyometric work that can maintain him agile and powerful.

Said former Springfield hitting coach Tyger Pederson: “Jordan has a huge frame, and as he continues to fill out, he’s going to be really scary with what he can do in this game. He has everything there to be a really special player.”

Upon his first assembly with Walker, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak noticed lots of the identical traits Flores had first picked up on. Mozeliak preferred how Walker made good eye contact, had a powerful handshake and carried himself with a humble confidence.

But any first impression normally includes his imposing bodily stature.

“He’s very put together,” stated Mozeliak. “He form of jogs my memory of Stanton with that form of physique he has. When you speak about combining the bodily impression with the efficiency impression, it’s an thrilling mixture to have.

“You never want to put ceilings on players, and we certainly won’t do that here, but it’s easy to dream with the kind of potential this young man has.”

Some of that huge potential was realized early in Spring Training. Before a light shoulder harm that stored him sidelined for a couple of days, Walker was main the Grapefruit League in hits (14), batting common (.438), slugging (.813), OPS (1.251), whole bases (24) and extra-base hits (six).

“For me, [Fernando] Tatis [Jr.] was the most exciting prospect in San Diego, and then I saw Jordan Walker, and that’s pretty dang close to it … the next Tatis,” Marlins supervisor and former Padres and Cardinals coach Skip Schumaker gushed. “He’s about as exciting a position player as I’ve seen in my coaching career.”

One factor that has turn into broadly obvious to the Cardinals is that Walker is excess of only a masher. He confirmed the power to spray the ball throughout in 2022 at Double-A Springfield. He hit a minimum of .300 in each month however one, whereas mixing in 19 dwelling runs, 22 stolen bases and 100 runs scored in 119 video games.

“He’s shown that he’s a hitter,” stated Cardinals supervisor Oliver Marmol, “and never only a one-trick pony that’s going to promote out for energy.

“It’s what you expect to see from a guy who has been around a lot longer than he has.”

If Walker is on the Opening Day roster, he very effectively might have his personal cheering part inside Busch Stadium for the March 30 sport in opposition to the Blue Jays. Walker’s mother and father, Derek and Katrina, have plans to attend. So, too, does Paden.

Flores solely needs Peterson, who died in 2020, was nonetheless round to witness the participant and individual Walker has turn into.

Said Flores: “I know he’s smiling in heaven now, ear to ear.”

“When you make a pick, you’re always wondering how they’re all going to do, especially a talent like Jordan,” Flores stated. “I’ve described drafting players as being similar to picking out Christmas gifts for your kids. You put time and effort into it and you go and find a gift you think your kid will like, and then you wrap it and wait. When it turns out that they like the present and they’re playing with it with their friends, that’s a great feeling. When you draft a player like Jordan and they hit, then others get to enjoy that player and that’s a good feeling for you, too.”