St. Louis Cardinals top prospect Jordan Walker has gained national notoriety this season, rising up to as high as the No. 7 prospect in all of baseball according to MLB.com, and will surely be a top 5 prospect by season’s end. The 20-year old third baseman was recently selected to participate in the MLB’s Future Game over the All-Star Weekend, and all of this due to his mix of elite tools and production so early in his career.
Both Cardinals fans and MLB scouts alike have begun to see comparisons in Walker’s projections and current star players in the league. Due to Walker’s frame and bat, many have pointed to Aaron Judge as a potential player comparison for the top prospect. Outside of the eye test, Walker’s AA statistics are beginning to match up with some of those stars at the same level.
Jordan Walker (69 G): .310/.399/.489, 7 HR, 21 2B, 32 RBI, 15 SB, .888 OPS
Aaron Judge (63 G): .284/.350/.516, 12 HR, 16 2B, 44 RBI, 1 SB, .866 OPS
Ronald Acuna Jr. (57 G): .326/.375/.520, 9 HR, 14 2B, 30 RBI, 19 SB, .896 OPS
Fernando Tatis Jr. (104 G): .283/.351/.482, 17 HR, 23 2B, 49 RBI, 20 SB, .833 OPS
Julio Rodriguez (46 G): .362/.461/.546, 7 HR, 11 2B, 26 RBI, 16 SB, 1.007 OPS
Double-A do not prove that a player will produce at a high level when they receive the call to the majors, but the kind of production Walker has put up in a growing sample size is proving his doubters wrong and showing that he can be the elite player that the Cardinals have the internally believing he would be.
https://twitter.com/Sgf_Cardinals/status/1537269815542439939
Although there are plenty of players who have raked in AA and struggled at the MLB level and vise versa, it is not only encouraging, but eye-popping to see how comparable Walker’s bat is already to some of the best players in the game.
If Walker continues to impress, fans could expect to see him in the St. Louis lineup come this time in 2023. The ceiling that Walker has, paired with the likes of Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson, Nolan Gorman, and Tommy Edman could make the Cardinals even scarier in the near future.