Yankees star Aaron Judge gave some advice to rookie phenom Jordan Walker during Spring Training
Even before becoming a top prospect in all of baseball and breaking onto the seen in St. Louis, Cardinals' Jordan Walker was drawing comparisons to other big-bodied players like Jermaine Dye, Giancarlo Stanton, and most flattering of all, Aaron Judge.
As Walker gained national attention this spring, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player shared some tips with Derrick Goold for Walker to grab hold of.
"“Somebody with our size — we don’t have to focus too much on exit velo, you just touch the ball and things are going to happen. That’s where you can focus on other things than trying to hit the ball as hard as you can. Focus on having a good swing, making good contact, and let your body and your mechanics do the rest.”"Aaron Judge
Judge is right. Players built like Walker and Judge are few and far between, and their ability to mash baseballs is just natural to them. While guys around the league are constantly looking for ways to improve bat speed and exit velocity, Walker can focus on just making good swings, and the power will come naturally.
In fact, that natural power is already putting Walker in elite terriority in the big leagues.
As of April 6th, Walker has the third most batted balls in all of baseball hit above 95 MPH, with 13 to hit name in just six games so far. The names above him on that list? Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Matt Chapman.
Even as Walker is hitting a lot of ground balls to this point, he's making hard contact almost every plate appearance, and that'll translate into good things for him. His average launch angle is sitting a -2.5 right now, which will be approved as he becomes comfortable at in the bigs. Once he does, Walker will be mashing more and more home runs, like he did on Wednesday.
Walker is still just 20 years old and is already on the edge of stardom. Walker would be wise to take after the example of Judge as he continues to develop at the plate, as he has the potential to be one of the most dangerous bats in all of baseball.