Jordan Walker's much-improved defense raises his ceiling for the Cardinals

When Jordan Walker made the transition from third base to right field prior to the 2022 season, people around baseball swooned over his arm strength. As a prospect, Walker had a 70-grade arm. His length and plus speed made him a prime candidate to thrive in the corner outfield à la Aaron Judge.

The start to Walker's career was as treacherous as it was brief in 2023. Walker had logged only 249 innings in the outfield prior to his major-league debut. Of course he would be raw in a new position at the highest level of baseball. The results were far worse than we could've imagined for the St. Louis Cardinals' top prospect.

In 2023, Walker was worth -14 Outs Above Average and -16 Defensive Runs Saved, and he had a UZR/150 of -15.9. Each one of those figures, sans DRS where he was the second-worst outfielder, ranked last among qualified outfielders in baseball that year.

Walker made strides last year, but he spent the bulk of his year in Triple-A Memphis working on his swing. He played only 367.1 innings in the outfield in 2024 compared to 923.2 innings in 2023. Without becoming a competent defender, Jordan Walker's ceiling was simply a power-hitting corner outfielder.

Jordan Walker has transformed himself into a positive defender in right field this year.

Through just 16 games, Jordan Walker has already accumulated one OAA and one DRS. Even being a neutral defender this year would be an improvement for the 22-year-old right fielder. The fact that he's already in the positives speaks volumes about his offseason work.

For the last few years, Walker and former coach Willie McGee worked together to improve Walker's defense. Be it Walker's struggles offensively, his relative lack of experience in the grass, or another factor, he still couldn't get strong reads or routes to balls in 2023 and 2024.

After Willie McGee transitioned to a special assistant role and left the coaching behind, Jon Jay was hired to replace the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer. Jay, a 12-year veteran of the game himself, has already done excellent work with Walker's defense. While Walker's routes and reads are still a bit behind, his speed and athleticism make up for the occasional incorrect first step.

In this play, Jordan Walker sprinted 145 feet to make a diving catch in foul territory to get Jose Altuve out. Walker's path wasn't the most direct to the ball, but his closing speed more than made up for it.

Here, Walker ran 88 feet to make a tough play in foul territory in the same game against the Houston Astros. Walker even robbed a home run that was headed for the stands by Triston Casas in Boston. He's been making fantastic grabs all year in right field.

In the past, some of the easy and routine plays have tripped up Jordan Walker in the corner outfield. In 2023, he made just 85.7% of one-star catches, those plays that are caught 91-95% of the time. He caught only 61.5% of balls that had a catch rate between 76-90%, 23.1% of balls that had a catch rate between 51-75%, 14.3% of balls that would be caught 26-50% of the time, and he missed all 16 of his 5-star catch opportunities, those balls that would normally be caught less than a quarter of the time.

He had just a 50% catch rate across the board in 2024.

This year, Walker has caught nine of eleven balls hit in his direction for a catch rate of 81.8%. He's made all of his one-star catches, 83.3% of his two-star catches, and 66.7% of his three-star catches. He hasn't yet had an opportunity to track down a four- or five-star ball.

Jordan Walker worked diligently over the offseason to take his game to another level in every facet. His work with assistant coach Jon Jay on the defensive side of the game is already paying dividends. If he can come into his own on the offensive side, something he's close to doing with a 103 wRC+ and three extra-base hits, we may be seeing the beginning of a star in the game.