Jordan Walker's September swoon with the Cardinals could illustrate the perils of a premature extension

Jordan Walker's incredible breakout season is concluding with a thud. The first half was a sight to behold: The St. Louis Cardinals right fielder put up a .294 average and an .887 OPS while swatting 22 home runs. The subsequent Home Run Derby looked to be his coming-out party and official introduction as a menace to the rest of the league. Unfortunately, the rest of Walker's season hasn't lived up to his lofty first half, and over the past month, his numbers have been dismal, with a .176 average, a .519 OPS and 28 strikeouts in 68 at-bats in September.

Prior to his skid, Cardinals media spoke excitedly about the possibility of an extension for Walker in the vein of that of JJ Wetherholt, but the reluctance of President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom to carry out that action should remind Cardinals fans that Walker is far from a sure bet, especially following his September collapse.

An article from FanSided pointed to Walker's severe struggles in 2024 and 2025 and opined that he is "a disappointing outfielder prone to the occasional hot streak." Although most Cardinals fans are likely higher on Walker than that writer is, Walker's streakiness appears to be a real trait that fans will need to get acquainted with.

As fans will recall, the Cardinals worked painstakingly to modify Walker's swing over the past few seasons, but even in 2026, he would often fall back into old habits, such as opening up his batting stance and chasing sliders low and away. His swing has also changed over the past few months, as Prehension Athletics noted on X.

The Cardinals' sweeping changes to Walker's approach bore plenty of fruit this season, but it still appears that the adjustments aren't natural to him, and perhaps they never will be. The fact that Walker's massive slump has taken place at the end of the season will give fans jitters about how he'll fare in the future and will elicit concerns that 2026 was a one-off season. But if Walker can once again adapt to how pitchers are attacking him, he should enjoy plenty of hot stretches in the years to come. The only question is, how many of those seasons will come in St. Louis?

MLB.com's Will Leitch laid out how a potential Walker extension could look if the Cardinals were to lock him up long-term. It wouldn't be cheap, but with Walker slated to become eligible for arbitration in 2027, the cost of his services is likely to shoot up drastically. However, the Cardinals should exercise caution and seriously consider whether a pre-arbitration extension is the proper route to traverse.

The Cardinals have an uneven record when it comes to extending players prior to arbitration

Spotrac lists nine Cardinals who have signed extensions with the team before entering arbitration, generally meaning that the team hitched its wagon to these (mostly) young players in hopes that they would deliver for years to come. Other than the Wetherholt extension, which was crafted by Bloom, these were all given under the John Mozeliak regime. Mozeliak's pre-arbitration extensions consisted of Adam Wainwright, Allen Craig, Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong, Stephen Piscotty, Paul DeJong and José Martínez.

The Cardinals struck gold with a few of these extensions, most notably with Wainwright and Carpenter, both of whom could receive induction into the Cardinals Hall of Fame. Kolten Wong's extension paid off as well, as he delivered solid production and even became a two-time Gold Glove recipient.

Craig and DeJong fell off sharply shortly after signing their extensions, and the Cardinals traded Piscotty and Martínez soon after extending them. Piscotty was dealt to the Oakland Athletics per his request to be closer to his mother, who had ALS, and Martínez was sent to the Tampa Bay Rays with Randy Arozarena in the seemingly irresistible deal for first-round pick Matthew Liberatore.

Bloom's cutting-edge approach could suggest that he is more in tune than Mozeliak regarding whom to extend and whom to wait on. The idea of signing Walker to a long-term extension may have seemed like a slam dunk to Cardinals supporters as he was going ballistic in the first half, but his comparatively mediocre second half and dreadful September might have fans breathing a sigh of relief that Bloom didn't jump the gun and sign Walker to a contract that could backfire spectacularly in the coming seasons.

Walker's stellar 2026 has created believers out of plenty of longtime detractors, but although an above-average career is still in reach for the 24-year-old, Bloom's decision so far to forgo a colossal extension worthy of a consistent superstar looks to be a shrewd one and further confirmation that the Cardinals hired the right man to lead their franchise.

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