Grading the St. Louis Cardinals' last 5 first round draft picks

2020 - Jordan Walker

This is a very weird time to grade the Jordan Walker pick. If we were grading this after the 2023 season, it would be a slam dunk A+, no questions asked. But depending on who you talk to now, some people are slamming the panic button regarding Walker and his development.

Let's just take a moment to remember he was drafted just four years ago out of high school and is still just 22 years old. A former top prospect in all of baseball who has already shown the ability to be 20% league average at the Major League level when he was one of the youngest players in the game, I think the Cardinals are still feeling really good about getting Walker with the 21st overall pick.

Walker is no doubt going through it right now at the plate, and it's concerning to see the big-bodied outfielder struggling so much at the Triple-A level after being demoted from St. Louis for the second time in as many seasons. Still, Walker has so much talent, and even if he doesn't reach his 90th percentile outcomes as a player, I'm sure he'll still be a very productive big leaguer, which is a big win for the Cardinals.

Still, you want to see Walker make improvements as soon as possible with his swing selection, ability to lift the ball and maintain his great exit velocities all at the same time. We also need to continue to see Walker improve as an outfield defender, especially if we now have more questions about his bat than we did before.

Looking at the rest of the 2020 MLB Draft, names like Bobby Miller, Jordan Westburg, Jared Jones, Evan Carter, and Spencer Strider all went after Walker in the draft, but it is far too early to tell where Walker will rank among those names. Cardinals' fans also get to celebrate the fact that the club snagged Masyn Winn, Alec Burleson, and Tink Hence all in that same draft as well.

If Walker is able to get things back on track, Randy Flores has a historic draft class on his hands. For now, he still aced the pick for me.

Grade: A