7 key stats from Cardinals Opening Day that could shape the 2025 season

116.5 MPH - Jordan Walker had the hardest-hit ball in baseball on Opening Day

It's hard to believe Jordan Walker is just 22 years old, and that's probably because he just made his third consecutive Opening Day start for the Cardinals in right field, one of just eight players in MLB history to do that prior to turning 23.

And yet, fans have been concerned about whether he'd become the hitter we thought he would be when he was a top prospect in the system. While 2023 had some incredible signs of growth and he was ultimately a 116 wRC+ hitter as a rookie, 2024 was so bad that it really made you question whether he'd be another "bust" from the Cardinals' system.

Time will tell us what Walker's ultimate fate is, but as things currently stand, we just observe the results on the field and the changes he is making to his game and see whether they point toward a brighter future.

Opening Day did just that. In Walker's first at-bat of the game, he laced a 116.5 MPH line drive down the third base line for a single, and had it not been for an unlucky bounce off the left field wall, he would have likely been standing on second base with this first double of the season. Walker destroyed that baseball, and it ended up being the hardest-hit ball of any game on Opening Day.

Walker has always been a guy who boasts immense potential, someone the Cardinals dream of the kind of damage he can do at the plate. The tools are there. Even in 2024 when he was struggling, Walker ranked fifth in baseball in average bat speed (77.3 MPH) among all hitters with at least 200 competitive swings.

However, the problem is that Walker does not capitalize on that potential enough. Too often, his at-bats have ended with pummeling the ball straight into the ground for another groundout to second base, or swinging and missing at a low and away slider. This offseason, Walker seemed excited about the instruction he was getting from new hitting coach Brant Brown, and he has implemented those changes in order to make good on his promise as a hitter.

You can see in this clip how different his hand position, stance, load, and attack of the baseball are. He's a different-looking hitter now, and one who could do more damage with the baseball more consistently if this trend continues.

Again, it's only one game, so we need a much larger sample size before we can say he's back on track to being a top hitter in the game one day, but I want you to take notice of Walker's spray chart from Thursday. All three of his batted balls were pulled on Thursday, and then he worked a walk in his fourth at-bat. No flimsy strikeout where he went and chased breaking balls way outside the zone. No weak ground ball contact to the right side of the infield after being fooled by a low and away pitch. He spat on those pitches, drove the balls that he could, and took his base when he needed to.

I'm not trying to say Walker is a completely new man at the plate and those holes in his game are gone. But what I saw on Opening Day was a Walker who seemed more comfortable and confident, and if that translates into better swing decisions and contact profiles in 2025, then we may see major progression at the plate this season. So keep an eye on those exit velocities this season, but even more so on the kinds of pitches he swings at and spits on while he's at the plate.