What is happening with Jordan Walker?

[Goldfan]

His step away from the plate with left foot keeps him from hitting any outside strikes with authority, if at all. He must learn to hit those pitches to the opposite field. He cannot lay off balls low and away but cannot make contact with them.

Simple, but very hard for some guys to correct. Early this year, he was not pulling off those pitches as much but now he has reverted back to last years' approach.

He should be in the minors learning everything listed in this thread. As noted he’s 23 so hopefully he can find he swing and stick to it. St. Louis is not the place to be figuring all this out and hitting .200

[scoutyjones2]

Doesn't seem to have the humility or work ethic at this point to make some big changes to his approach. Maybe next offseason, he needs a major rehaul. Not looking promising.

Okay, a lot of this is just ridiculous. Have you ever listened to an interview with the kid? And yes, he's still a kid, despite being a physical monster. He's one of the most well-spoken, positive attitude, humble people you've ever heard.

All the kid does is work. Look how much he's already improved his defense. Aaron Judge is the closest physical specimen to Walker. These were Judge's career numbers through age 25:

AB: 84
Avg: .179
HR: 4
OPS: .608

Jordan doesn't even turn 23 until later this month. He shouldn't have seen a big league at-bat until the launch angle issue was addressed, but he was rushed to MLB to try and cover up Mo's bad decisions. But now, with the Cubs ensuring this is likely a lost season, Jordan should be playing in almost every game.

I'll only disagree with one thing. He should be getting his regular at bats in AAA Memphis. Let him go down and work under the new minor league development plan. It couldn't hurt. Lord knows what the Cardinals have done so far hasn't worked.

Jordan doesn't do the work for improving his hitting

You don't know that

Has his hitting improved?

[Adam2]

Doesn't seem to have the humility or work ethic at this point to make some big changes to his approach. Maybe next offseason, he needs a major rehaul. Not looking promising.

Okay, a lot of this is just ridiculous. Have you ever listened to an interview with the kid? And yes, he's still a kid, despite being a physical monster. He's one of the most well-spoken, positive attitude, humble people you've ever heard.

All the kid does is work. Look how much he's already improved his defense. Aaron Judge is the closest physical specimen to Walker. These were Judge's career numbers through age 25:

AB: 84
Avg: .179
HR: 4
OPS: .608

Jordan doesn't even turn 23 until later this month. He shouldn't have seen a big league at-bat until the launch angle issue was addressed, but he was rushed to MLB to try and cover up Mo's bad decisions. But now, with the Cubs ensuring this is likely a lost season, Jordan should be playing in almost every game.

I'll only disagree with one thing. He should be getting his regular at bats in AAA Memphis. Let him go down and work under the new minor league development plan. It couldn't hurt. Lord knows what the Cardinals have done so far hasn't worked.

Jordan doesn't do the work for improving his hitting

You don't know that

Has his hitting improved?

Could be for many other reasons other than lack of work. I could work on my hitting 18 hours a day for 10 years, and when i fail it wouldn't be for lack of work. Could be for lack of strength, poor eyesight, lack of pitch recognition, lack of general talent. Be better in your assumptions of people you don't know.

Don't bother responding, i won't read it

[Ronnie Dobbs]

I know this is a development year, but I don't know what do to about him. He passed Siani for worst OPS+ on the team with a 51. He's 10th worst all of baseball in RC+ among qualified hitters. It's clear he's lost.

[Futuregm2]

I know this is a development year, but I don't know what do to about him. He passed Siani for worst OPS+ on the team with a 51. He's 10th worst all of baseball in RC+ among qualified hitters. It's clear he's lost.

It’s hard because they publicly committed to this being that kind of a year. It’s hard to continue to give them ABs. On the other hand, sending him down for a 3rd season uses up the last option which hurts any trade value he might have IMO and sending him down the previous 2 years obviously didn’t help, so not sure what sending him down again in hopes of him getting better will do. Same coaching staff is in Memphis still. At this point I’d stick with him in the MLB in hopes something clicks.

[3dender]

What I don't understand is why can he not simply adjust his plate approach to not swing until he has at least 1 strike on him? That's not something that requires skill, it's just discipline. Instead he's going up there hacking at the first two pitches and he's going 0-2 like 50% of the time.

It's like he doesn't have a plan at all for what he knows they've been doing to him for years now. That's either a failure of coaching or of learning, there's no 3rd option.

[sikeston bulldog2]

What I don't understand is why can he not simply adjust his plate approach to not swing until he has at least 1 strike on him? That's not something that requires skill, it's just discipline. Instead he's going up there hacking at the first two pitches and he's going 0-2 like 50% of the time.

It's like he doesn't have a plan at all for what he knows they've been doing to him for years now. That's either a failure of coaching or of learning, there's no 3rd option.

You make good points. Especially with- how many baseballs have been thrown at him. Surely he has adjusted enough to hit them. But not here.

[hmoss859]

He has a large strike zone and doesn't catch a break on borderline calls.

He has enough bat speed to go to a more closed stance, and he should crowd the plate more to take away the low and away slider. And lay off the inside off the plate heater.

But I doubt anybody has been able to convince him to do so.

He is lost at the plate, and is easy pickins for MLB pitchers

[sikeston bulldog2]

He has a large strike zone and doesn't catch a break on borderline calls.

He has enough bat speed to go to a more closed stance, and he should crowd the plate more to take away the low and away slider. And lay off the inside off the plate heater.

But I doubt anybody has been able to convince him to do so.

He is lost at the plate, and is easy pickins for MLB pitchers

Not catching a break is huge to the count hence the at bat. Maybe he needs to hit a few more of the borderline pitches. Can’t do no worse that K looking. Twice.

[Futuregm2]

What I don't understand is why can he not simply adjust his plate approach to not swing until he has at least 1 strike on him? That's not something that requires skill, it's just discipline. Instead he's going up there hacking at the first two pitches and he's going 0-2 like 50% of the time.

It's like he doesn't have a plan at all for what he knows they've been doing to him for years now. That's either a failure of coaching or of learning, there's no 3rd option.

Well he’s swung at the first pitch in 29.5% of his PAs, above the team total of 28.0%, but lower than MLB average (31.2%). He’s higher than Donovan, Noot, and Winn, but lower than Arenado, Contreras, Burleson, VS2, etc.

Not sure what his % is on the first 2 pitches though.

[blackinkbiz]

He has a large strike zone and doesn't catch a break on borderline calls.

He has enough bat speed to go to a more closed stance, and he should crowd the plate more to take away the low and away slider. And lay off the inside off the plate heater.

But I doubt anybody has been able to convince him to do so.

He is lost at the plate, and is easy pickins for MLB pitchers

Walker watched strike 3 fastballs go right down the middle in his first two ab's last night. Next two ab's were better but regardless ... He's lost and Oli's strategy of play, sit, play, sit, sit, play, play, sit, sit, play is clearly not working. Just send the 3 Stooges down for mercy's sake. Unless Burly rips another HR tonight, BUT... he hit one last night so Oli likely sits him today.

[3dender]

What I don't understand is why can he not simply adjust his plate approach to not swing until he has at least 1 strike on him? That's not something that requires skill, it's just discipline. Instead he's going up there hacking at the first two pitches and he's going 0-2 like 50% of the time.

It's like he doesn't have a plan at all for what he knows they've been doing to him for years now. That's either a failure of coaching or of learning, there's no 3rd option.

Well he’s swung at the first pitch in 29.5% of his PAs, above the team total of 28.0%, but lower than MLB average (31.2%). He’s higher than Donovan, Noot, and Winn, but lower than Arenado, Contreras, Burleson, VS2, etc.

Not sure what his % is on the first 2 pitches though.

My bad... guess I just assumed since it seems like he's always going either 0-2 or 1-2. Not sure what the trick is to avoiding that but it seems like there's gotta be something.

I'm also not sure what he's doing everytime he takes his timeout with 2 strikes, but it doesn't seem to be working so maybe he should take his timeout at a different time in the AB just for a change? Gotta do something to get out of his rut.

[Ronnie Dobbs]

It’s hard because they publicly committed to this being that kind of a year. It’s hard to continue to give them ABs. On the other hand, sending him down for a 3rd season uses up the last option which hurts any trade value he might have IMO and sending him down the previous 2 years obviously didn’t help, so not sure what sending him down again in hopes of him getting better will do. Same coaching staff is in Memphis still. At this point I’d stick with him in the MLB in hopes something clicks.

Yea, that's kinda what I'm thinking too. I'm not sure what sending him down is going to do for him. Even if he hits down there, is he going to be able to make the adjustment to hitting at the MLB level? It's clear that is where the problem is.

But again, if the team would have been more clear on what the purpose of this year is, then maybe we wouldn't be having this conversation and we'd just let him struggle. With us having maybe an okay team, there's pressure to give other guys ABs, which is understandable. They needed to pick a lane and go for it, but here we are once again.

[sikeston bulldog2]

It’s hard because they publicly committed to this being that kind of a year. It’s hard to continue to give them ABs. On the other hand, sending him down for a 3rd season uses up the last option which hurts any trade value he might have IMO and sending him down the previous 2 years obviously didn’t help, so not sure what sending him down again in hopes of him getting better will do. Same coaching staff is in Memphis still. At this point I’d stick with him in the MLB in hopes something clicks.

Yea, that's kinda what I'm thinking too. I'm not sure what sending him down is going to do for him. Even if he hits down there, is he going to be able to make the adjustment to hitting at the MLB level? It's clear that is where the problem is.

But again, if the team would have been more clear on what the purpose of this year is, then maybe we wouldn't be having this conversation and we'd just let him struggle. With us having maybe an okay team, there's pressure to give other guys ABs, which is understandable. They needed to pick a lane and go for it, but here we are once again.

This one I like. You’re pushing the needle to the red. Who’s wrong or right. His play will always linger.

Pick a lane. They committed to reset. They expected to lose in this reset. But some have developed some, a decent staff, lack of reset patience, and we are winning a few.

So everyone abandoned the time frame of a reset- 2-3 years, and jumped on let’s win now train, which is not even at the top of the priority list.

But winning dulls the senses.

[Futuregm2]

What I don't understand is why can he not simply adjust his plate approach to not swing until he has at least 1 strike on him? That's not something that requires skill, it's just discipline. Instead he's going up there hacking at the first two pitches and he's going 0-2 like 50% of the time.

It's like he doesn't have a plan at all for what he knows they've been doing to him for years now. That's either a failure of coaching or of learning, there's no 3rd option.

Well he’s swung at the first pitch in 29.5% of his PAs, above the team total of 28.0%, but lower than MLB average (31.2%). He’s higher than Donovan, Noot, and Winn, but lower than Arenado, Contreras, Burleson, VS2, etc.

Not sure what his % is on the first 2 pitches though.

My bad... guess I just assumed since it seems like he's always going either 0-2 or 1-2. Not sure what the trick is to avoiding that but it seems like there's gotta be something.

I'm also not sure what he's doing everytime he takes his timeout with 2 strikes, but it doesn't seem to be working so maybe he should take his timeout at a different time in the AB just for a change? Gotta do something to get out of his rut.

He does seem to always be down in the count. I’m not sure what the answer is either, obviously they don’t even know the answer.

[sikeston bulldog2]

What I don't understand is why can he not simply adjust his plate approach to not swing until he has at least 1 strike on him? That's not something that requires skill, it's just discipline. Instead he's going up there hacking at the first two pitches and he's going 0-2 like 50% of the time.

It's like he doesn't have a plan at all for what he knows they've been doing to him for years now. That's either a failure of coaching or of learning, there's no 3rd option.

Well he’s swung at the first pitch in 29.5% of his PAs, above the team total of 28.0%, but lower than MLB average (31.2%). He’s higher than Donovan, Noot, and Winn, but lower than Arenado, Contreras, Burleson, VS2, etc.

Not sure what his % is on the first 2 pitches though.

My bad... guess I just assumed since it seems like he's always going either 0-2 or 1-2. Not sure what the trick is to avoiding that but it seems like there's gotta be something.

I'm also not sure what he's doing everytime he takes his timeout with 2 strikes, but it doesn't seem to be working so maybe he should take his timeout at a different time in the AB just for a change? Gotta do something to get out of his rut.

He does seem to always be down in the count. I’m not sure what the answer is either, obviously they don’t even know the answer.

He is talented enough to hit most pitches if he’d just swing more. Needs to watch Manny Sanguian. Old pirates catcher. Claim to fame- swung at everything, but hit well. Anybody remember Manny.