WASHINGTON — In the batting cage tucked just behind the visitors’ dugout at Nationals Park, Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker stood early Saturday with his bat cocked behind his head as if readying to swing — but held in place only by his right thumb.
The purpose of the drill was to exaggerate his bat path as a way to reinforce the hand position he finds most comfortable and avoid the dip of his hands that limit his swing. Walker had the day off from the starting lineup, so he had the time and attention of hitting coaches Brant Brown and Brandon Allen to continue the work the Cardinals insist are leading to improvements.
“To be honest, that is really the issue right now — my hands are just collapsing a little too fast, causing me to swing under the ball,” Walker told the Post-Dispatch on Saturday afternoon. “I’m fouling off a lot of balls just straight back, straight back, and that’s the thing is what’s positive about it. It is only a little adjustment. I see it well, and I get a good pitch to hit, and I foul it back.
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Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker celebrates after hitting a single to drive in Brendan Donovan and Luken Baker against the Pirates on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, at Busch Stadium.
Allie Schallert, Post-Dispatch
“Now,” Walker continued, “it’s just that little adjustment that takes me from fouling it back to crushing it somewhere in play.”
In his past two starts, Walker skipped a two-run single up the middle against the Pirates and, on Friday night, hit a sacrifice fly and earned a walk. He also continued a streak of eight consecutive games with at least one strikeout and did not hoist his batting average out of what’s become an 8-for-63 (.127) dive with 24 strikeouts since his most recent home run on April 13. Without jam-packed box scores to gauge his improvement, the question becomes how does he measure improvement — where do his coaches see it and where does he feel it to make this stretch different from previous searches for his swing?
The Cardinals say that is happening in the cage.
Hitting coach Brown likened it to a time machine.
It’s where Walker is working on getting back to the future.
“We’re basically trying to revert a little bit back in time to when he was in Double-A,” the Cardinals’ first-year hitting coach said. “Looking at the way he stood, the way he held the bat, the way he moved, compared to when he was transitioning as he first came up (to the majors) and when he had the trouble that happened. We’re definitely on the right path. It’s really, really, really close. Hitters always remember that feeling, so it’s taking him back to that time. There is no one besides him and his family who want this more for him than I do.”
Walker and his coaches looked at video of his time at Class AA Springfield, when he was regarded as one of the top prospects in all of the minors, and also in 2023. Walker has adjusted his stance at the plate to open himself up to the right-center gap and that’s helped with pitch recognition as well. Pleased with his legs and stride at the plate, the focus recently — including the over-exaggerated work Saturday — has been on his hands. His coaches are also individualizing his game-planning and when Walker doesn’t dive after the slider away he hears the encouragement from the staff. Not all advancements are measured by the Statcast.
Brown said in tandem with those adjustments is one to his mindset.
“Go be a hit collector,” Brown said, using his term for a player who hunts hits not always aiming for damage. “Use the right side of the field. He really works inside the ball well — and that’s his superpower. Let’s go with it now. Drive the ball to right-center, and if they hang something then you pull it. Be a hit collector. Look, if he touches the pitch it’s going to go 108 mph.”
Since the Cardinals selected Walker in the first round of the 2020 draft and his rise as one of the top power-potential prospects in baseball, his size, strength, and natural swing has generated force. His bat speed is in the 99th percentile, according to Statcast, and his average exit velocity is top 28% in the majors. What’s been missing is the consistent contact. He’s in the lowest 15% in chase, bottom 7% in swing-and-miss rate, and opponents know it as they challenge him with sliders low and away. His slugging percentage on sliders this season is .048.
He’s batting .238 on fastballs, slugging .448 on four-seamers.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said he’s “more confident in what is currently taking place” with Walker in the batting cage than previously because of what he sees that doesn’t show up in the measurements: conviction.
“There (was) a little bit of hesitance — ‘Is this really the answer?’ — and there is none of that at the moment,” Marmol said. “It’s more so continuing to commit to the work more than anything. Whether he sees immediate results or not, there is a clear plan. Stick to it and see what comes from it, rather than just search for results because we’ve seen that, where it’s a different stance and it doesn’t ever give anything time to actually take shape. Committing to the work is all I care about right now.”
And then, the manager added, “it’s a matter of carrying over into the game.”
“I’ve gone through it early in my career,” said Walker, who turns just 23 on May 22. “I think that fact that I still love baseball, still love playing the game, and I think that’s the joy. I get frustrated at times in games. I strike out, and that’s frustrating. But I still have fun. That’s where it comes from. It’s in Oli’s talks. It’s in Brownie’s enthusiasm in the cage. It’s BA (Allen) being there. They’re excited about what they do, they love what they do, and they love helping. It’s kind of hard to be down with all of that good energy around you.”
And that’s where he was Saturday.
Feeling the over-exaggeration for sure as he held the bat with his thumb and then felt it — that hand position, that path, that one improvement he’s been working on in the cage and clinging to until it translates into the game.
“I really have to remind myself to stick on what I’m getting better at,” Walker said. “Once you start to look at it like that, that’s when you get out of it.”
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