Walker peripherals - crazy

[sikeston bulldog2]

Get low kid! You're just too (drat) big. Umps aren't going to stop calling those low strikes at your calves.

I bet he becomes a better hitter when auto balls and strikes gets here. Won’t have that first strike stolen from him, putting him in a favorable count, not constantly down 0-1 in the count.

[CorneliusWolfe]

Get low kid! You're just too (drat) big. Umps aren't going to stop calling those low strikes at your calves.

I bet he becomes a better hitter when auto balls and strikes gets here. Won’t have that first strike stolen from him, putting him in a favorable count, not constantly down 0-1 in the count.

That would help him more than anyone on the team.

[Nitchke]

I come here very infrequently. But after reading the posts on this thread, I said to myself, what the hell?

Not one person has mentioned a concept that permeates not only baseball, but every sport that I am aware. Balance. There are numerous posts that mention bending at the knees. But apparently not even they understand why that is important or what that promotes.

Compare Walker to Herrara. Herrara has his knees bent with a balanced stance, keeps his weight back, shifts his weight in relation to the location of the pitch and swings in balance. Herrara is able to not only cover 2-3” off the outside corner, but is able drive the ball with bad intentions to both center and right. He is a very dangerous hitter. A real keeper.

Walker’s upright and left twinkle toe stance does not promote stability and does not promote keeping his weight back with a balanced swing. I believe he instinctively attempts to achieve balance by prematurely shifting too much weight forward but now he has opened up way too much. Now he can’t cover anything other than the inner part of the plate…and then because of his upright stance, he doesn’t even have real good balance with respect to that. Because too much weight has shifted to his left side and has opened up too much, any attempt to hit anything on the outside half of the plate is essentially reduced to all arms with a flip of the bat. He is 6’6” with long arms and essentially can’t even effectively cover the outside corner, let alone anything off the plate. My goodness, how pathetic is that?

Walker’s stance and swing mechanics needed to be overhauled years ago. He is a poster child for what can happen when minor league coaching is gutted. He seems like a really good kid and it is very sad that this organization allowed this to happen to him. Mentally, he is now a hot mess. I feel very bad for him. He deserved better.

[ClassicO]

I come here very infrequently. But after reading the posts on this thread, I said to myself, what the hell?

Not one person has mentioned a concept that permeates not only baseball, but every sport that I am aware. Balance. There are numerous posts that mention bending at the knees. But apparently not even they understand why that is important or what that promotes.

Compare Walker to Herrara. Herrara has his knees bent with a balanced stance, keeps his weight back, shifts his weight in relation to the location of the pitch and swings in balance. Herrara is able to not only cover 2-3” off the outside corner, but is able drive the ball with bad intentions to both center and right. He is a very dangerous hitter. A real keeper.

Walker’s upright and left twinkle toe stance does not promote stability and does not promote keeping his weight back with a balanced swing. I believe he instinctively attempts to achieve balance by prematurely shifting too much weight forward but now he has opened up way too much. Now he can’t cover anything other than the inner part of the plate…and then because of his upright stance, he doesn’t even have real good balance with respect to that. Because too much weight has shifted to his left side and has opened up too much, any attempt to hit anything on the outside half of the plate is essentially reduced to all arms with a flip of the bat. He is 6’6” with long arms and essentially can’t even effectively cover the outside corner, let alone anything off the plate. My goodness, how pathetic is that?

Walker’s stance and swing mechanics needed to be overhauled years ago. He is a poster child for what can happen when minor league coaching is gutted. He seems like a really good kid and it is very sad that this organization allowed this to happen to him. Mentally, he is now a hot mess. I feel very bad for him. He deserved better.

Exactly. It's not a panacea, but proper balance and a stance with a much better ability to adjust is a factor, which only a moron who hasn't played baseball would deny (e.g., Melville).
And there are screenshots of Winfield, Judge and others posted above that show how other great 6'6" tall hitters had a stance very similar to Pujols. And contrary to dumb-Melville, I'm not including O'Neill Cruz (hitting .205 with 31 RBI) as a great hitter. Yet even his swing is Pujols-like.

Screenshot 2025-06-27 at 3.29.46 PM.png (240.98 KiB) Viewed 173 times

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Prior to being sent down he was very good. They sent him down to get their analytics inside his head. Hasn't been the same player since.

What specific "analytics" do you think they were getting inside his head and how was that different than whatever it was that they were getting inside his head before?

[ScotchMIrish]

Prior to being sent down he was very good. They sent him down to get their analytics inside his head. Hasn't been the same player since.

What specific "analytics" do you think they were getting inside his head and how was that different than whatever it was that they were getting inside his head before?

I have no idea. I do remember Mozeliak saying a few years ago he was changing his analytics program.

[cardsrmyteam]

Statcast - it's crazy that he has all this ability and still lacks pitch recognition and has a batting stance that sux. Change to the Pujols stance! What worked before (minors) doesn't translate to the Bigs. (Business axiom: "what got you here won't get you there").

Sprint Speed
1. Scott - 30.1
2. Walker - 28.7

MLB Batting - Average Bat Speed
1. Cruz, Oneil - 78.5
2. Caminero, Junior - 78.1
3. Walker, Jordan - 77.6
4. Adell, Jo - 77.5
5. Judge, Aaron - 76.8

(Note - he and Adell were top-5 prospects, and both have struggled despite the stats.)

He's now a -1 OAA - 2nd to last on the team ahead of now departed Barrero. So the fielding has tumbled as well.

Why did he regress from his first season? Figure that out and you solve everything. My guess is the plugged him into a computer program instead of just letting him do what he had been doing.

My oh my how we so easily forget.

Mo demanded he lift the ball to hit more HR's. That's rock solid and the truth. So Mo and his minions (prior to Chaim and Rob Cerfolio) decided to change his swing. That took 2/3 years off of his career. That's on Mo.

I will tell you that Cerfolio is the reason why Gorman is finally reaching his potential and why I am more confident that Walker will get there too. This is also why Liberatore is pitching well. It has nothing to do with the dugout and everything to do with Chaim and Rob.

Mo has, was and always will be a stain on this great franchise. September 30th can't get here soon enough.

[Swuhgen]

Statcast - it's crazy that he has all this ability and still lacks pitch recognition and has a batting stance that sux. Change to the Pujols stance! What worked before (minors) doesn't translate to the Bigs. (Business axiom: "what got you here won't get you there").

Sprint Speed
1. Scott - 30.1
2. Walker - 28.7

MLB Batting - Average Bat Speed
1. Cruz, Oneil - 78.5
2. Caminero, Junior - 78.1
3. Walker, Jordan - 77.6
4. Adell, Jo - 77.5
5. Judge, Aaron - 76.8

(Note - he and Adell were top-5 prospects, and both have struggled despite the stats.)

He's now a -1 OAA - 2nd to last on the team ahead of now departed Barrero. So the fielding has tumbled as well.

It means he most likely doesn’t have the ability to make necessary adjustments. Some guys never figure it out.

[ScotchMIrish]

Statcast - it's crazy that he has all this ability and still lacks pitch recognition and has a batting stance that sux. Change to the Pujols stance! What worked before (minors) doesn't translate to the Bigs. (Business axiom: "what got you here won't get you there").

Sprint Speed
1. Scott - 30.1
2. Walker - 28.7

MLB Batting - Average Bat Speed
1. Cruz, Oneil - 78.5
2. Caminero, Junior - 78.1
3. Walker, Jordan - 77.6
4. Adell, Jo - 77.5
5. Judge, Aaron - 76.8

(Note - he and Adell were top-5 prospects, and both have struggled despite the stats.)

He's now a -1 OAA - 2nd to last on the team ahead of now departed Barrero. So the fielding has tumbled as well.

Why did he regress from his first season? Figure that out and you solve everything. My guess is the plugged him into a computer program instead of just letting him do what he had been doing.

My oh my how we so easily forget.

Mo demanded he lift the ball to hit more HR's. That's rock solid and the truth. So Mo and his minions (prior to Chaim and Rob Cerfolio) decided to change his swing. That took 2/3 years off of his career. That's on Mo.

I will tell you that Cerfolio is the reason why Gorman is finally reaching his potential and why I am more confident that Walker will get there too. This is also why Liberatore is pitching well. It has nothing to do with the dugout and everything to do with Chaim and Rob.

Mo has, was and always will be a stain on this great franchise. September 30th can't get here soon enough.

There you go. I knew they did something to him.

[illiniriles]

At least he has won us a couple of games almost single-handedlyl Come on, now. You know it is true. He's very strong, fast and athletic. He's got the talent. He's got the tools. He's got the right attitude, COACH HIM UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't blow this.

[EastCoastDave]

IMHO, Walker will never develop until he alters his stance. He is so tall that he is off balance when trying to get to soft outside stuff. He’s always reaching for those pitches, which keeps the other team’s shortstop busy fielding his grounders. Too many moving parts before he gets to the attack zone. Players Walker’s heights have their feet parallel, closer to the plate, not up on the toes of one foot and in a slight crouch (see NYY’s Winfield or the late Dave Parker). I can’t understand why hitting coaches in the organization have not insisted on a change to his stance as a condition of him staying in the big leagues.

[nebfan]

I think it's time for him to spend a year or 2 at Memphis. Burley has clearly taken over the RF Job. Let Walker pay his dues at AAA like just about everybody else

[Futuregm2]

I think it's time for him to spend a year or 2 at Memphis. Burley has clearly taken over the RF Job. Let Walker pay his dues at AAA like just about everybody else

He can spend the rest of this year at Memphis Or stay up this year in the MLB and then spend next year in Memphis. He is on his final option.

[Goldfan]

I think it's time for him to spend a year or 2 at Memphis. Burley has clearly taken over the RF Job. Let Walker pay his dues at AAA like just about everybody else

He can spend the rest of this year at Memphis Or stay up this year in the MLB and then spend next year in Memphis. He is on his final option.

Amazing how one can run through options so quickly when not very good…..