Jordan Walker Is on a Historic Tear and the Rest of MLB Should Be Worried

Jordan Walker's response to the baseball world's sudden fascination with his power surge is simple: he's sticking to the process. But while having a process is great, the results the resurgent St. Louis Cardinals slugger is producing are becoming impossible to ignore. Walker walloped his Major League-leading eighth home run of the season on Monday night in the Cards' 9-3 loss to the Guardians at Busch Stadium, jumping on the very first pitch he saw from Cleveland starter Gavin Williams in the bottom of the sixth inning. He is officially on a historic tear. The Numbers Behind the Surge Walker has now homered in three straight games. More impressively, he has seven home runs in his last nine games, and six in his last seven. His eight home runs over the team's first 16 games matches the early season marks of Cardinals legends Scott Rolen (2004), Mark McGwire (1998), and Stan Musial (1954). In fact, only Albert Pujols has had a more torrid home run pace to start a season in Cardinals history, mashing 11 home runs in the club's first 16 games in 2006. The 23-year-old outfielder is turning heads not just with his raw power, but with a completely revamped approach at the plate. Much of Walker's improvement this season has been tied to his increasing plate discipline. He has decreased his chase rate on pitches out of the zone from 34.1% in 2025 down to 28.6% so far this season—better than the league average of 29.6%. Turning Weakness Into Strength Walker didn't need to wait for a hitter-friendly count to know that Williams let a sweeper catch too much of the plate on Monday night. He ambushed the first pitch, sending it deep into the St. Louis night. "If the first pitch is a good pitch to hit, I need to go for it," Walker explained after the game. "But also, what mixes in with that is not chasing first pitch, as well. It's just an even mix, staying within myself. If it's a first pitch, middle-middle, I want to try to be better at going after it." Turning a previous weakness—chasing bad pitches early in counts—into a newfound strength has done wonders for Walker's confidence. The complete nature of his game lately is a clear sign that his offseason work is paying off in a massive way. Even in a loss that didn't feature the crisp brand of baseball the Cardinals pride themselves on, manager Oliver Marmol used Walker's hustle down the line to beat out an infield hit in the eighth inning as the perfect example of what this young clubhouse aims to achieve. "To beat that out and to still have that level of intensity, it speaks a lot as to the mentality of, not only Jordan, but the group," Marmol said. "I love that part of the game. That's a big part of the game that we continue to highlight and make sure we do that often." If Walker keeps hitting with this kind of freedom and discipline, the rest of the National League is going to have a massive problem on its hands. --- Related reading: Check out the Judge vs Trout instant classic and the wild brawl between Soler and López for more early-season MLB action.