JJ: Jordan Walker advisory

[imetsatchelpaige]

I am as upbeat on JJ as anyone here. Great potential.
Just like Walker.
The quotes from pro talking heads and folks here were pretty clear: he was to be the second coming. There was no reason for him to stay in AAA. He was the power bat we needed. He was past ready. The next AP.
He may yet pan out and live up to the hype. But that is not now, and it hadn’t been the case. I witnessed him haplessly flailing in SD.
So, two things. We burnish our Faberge eggs and admire them on the mantle, as they tarnish. Others here have pointed out the unwillingness if the FO to trade players at the right time-or at all. Hopefully Bloom changes that.
And no, I am not suggesting trading JJ (although Walker may at long last may be on the block), but my sense is people expect JJ to succeed at this level immediately.
And he may. But the book will go out on him and there will be regression. He may well be the cornerstone we all hope.
But it will not be automatic and ala’ Walker, there are no guarantees.

[Goldfan]

I am as upbeat on JJ as anyone here. Great potential.
Just like Walker.
The quotes from pro talking heads and folks here were pretty clear: he was to be the second coming. There was no reason for him to stay in AAA. He was the power bat we needed. He was past ready. The next AP.
He may yet pan out and live up to the hype. But that is not now, and it hadn’t been the case. I witnessed him haplessly flailing in SD.
So, two things. We burnish our Faberge eggs and admire them on the mantle, as they tarnish. Others here have pointed out the unwillingness if the FO to trade players at the right time-or at all. Hopefully Bloom changes that.
And no, I am not suggesting trading JJ (although Walker may at long last may be on the block), but my sense is people expect JJ to succeed at this level immediately.
And he may. But the book will go out on him and there will be regression. He may well be the cornerstone we all hope.
But it will not be automatic and ala’ Walker, there are no guarantees.

If you closely watch their swings….there is NO comparison of JJ’s to Gorman/Walker…
So randomly bringing up current failed names attempting to provide progression guidance is without doing homework. Sure will JJ have a regression, but a Gorman/Walker comparison is laughable. JJ is open then strides to plate/pitcher with every swing and stays on the ball. They other 2 could one hope to have such solid mechanics

[rockondlouie]

J. Walker - 21 yrs old & no college playing experience

J.J.W. - 23 yrs old in one month, four years of college playing experience & destroying AA/AAA (.310 .425 .528 .953).

No comparison to Walker as to being "ready".

JJW isn't being rushed, he's right on schedule satch and needs to be up here as soon as he passes that rookie eligible in 2026 date!

[ClassicO]

J. Walker - 21 yrs old & no college playing experience

J.J.W. - 23 yrs old in one month, four years of college playing experience & destroying AA/AAA (.310 .425 .528 .953).

No comparison to Walker as to being "ready".

JJW isn't being rushed, he's right on schedule satch and needs to be up here as soon as he passes that rookie eligible in 2026 date!

Also,
21st pick vs. 7th pick (and higher w/o hammy injuries).
6'6" guy with big swing vs 5'10" and short swing.
Hank Aaron - 5'11"; Willie Mays and The Mick = 6'0".
Sometimes it's more about the swing.

[rockondlouie]

J. Walker - 21 yrs old & no college playing experience

J.J.W. - 23 yrs old in one month, four years of college playing experience & destroying AA/AAA (.310 .425 .528 .953).

No comparison to Walker as to being "ready".

JJW isn't being rushed, he's right on schedule satch and needs to be up here as soon as he passes that rookie eligible in 2026 date!

Also,
21st pick vs. 7th pick (and higher w/o hammy injuries).
6'6" guy with big swing vs 5'10" and short swing.
Hank Aaron - 5'11"; Willie Mays and The Mick = 6'0".
Sometimes it's more about the swing.

Let's be honest

There is NO comparison (other than being in the Cardinals organization) between these two hitter wise.

JJW is by far and a way the superior hitter and all round player.

Period

[imetsatchelpaige]

J. Walker - 21 yrs old & no college playing experience

J.J.W. - 23 yrs old in one month, four years of college playing experience & destroying AA/AAA (.310 .425 .528 .953).

No comparison to Walker as to being "ready".

JJW isn't being rushed, he's right on schedule satch and needs to be up here as soon as he passes that rookie eligible in 2026 date!

Respect all the perspectives here.

I did not say he was being rushed. I expect to see him in Sept or the starting 9 in 2026.
Nor did I compare the two, because, as pointed out, JJ has much better credentials.
I did say that unrealistic expectations can come back to bite you.
As they have with JW.
I went back and looked at number of CT threads around Walker and when he was called up. You may wish to do the same Rock.

[rockondlouie]

J. Walker - 21 yrs old & no college playing experience

J.J.W. - 23 yrs old in one month, four years of college playing experience & destroying AA/AAA (.310 .425 .528 .953).

No comparison to Walker as to being "ready".

JJW isn't being rushed, he's right on schedule satch and needs to be up here as soon as he passes that rookie eligible in 2026 date!

I did not say he was being rushed.
I did say that unrealistic expectations can come back to bite you.
As they have with JW.

I'm not putting any of those on him either, just let the kid be himself and I think we'll be very happy.

[Ronnie Dobbs]

It's already been covered, but it's not a fair comparison. JJ was basically a complete player coming out of college, who had a real chance to go 1-1. They let him tear up AA for awhile before promoting him to AAA and he's looked even better there. He's making it look ridiculously easy. He's not just hitting like he was all year, not he's hitting HRs all over the place.

Walker was a raw high school player. He looked great at AA, but they rushed him based off a hot first few weeks of Spring Training and he got exposed.

Yea, we get it. No one is guaranteed to succeed and people are putting a lot of hope on this kid, but it's for a good reason.

[An Old Friend]

I am as upbeat on JJ as anyone here. Great potential.
Just like Walker.
The quotes from pro talking heads and folks here were pretty clear: he was to be the second coming. There was no reason for him to stay in AAA. He was the power bat we needed. He was past ready. The next AP.
He may yet pan out and live up to the hype. But that is not now, and it hadn’t been the case. I witnessed him haplessly flailing in SD.
So, two things. We burnish our Faberge eggs and admire them on the mantle, as they tarnish. Others here have pointed out the unwillingness if the FO to trade players at the right time-or at all. Hopefully Bloom changes that.
And no, I am not suggesting trading JJ (although Walker may at long last may be on the block), but my sense is people expect JJ to succeed at this level immediately.
And he may. But the book will go out on him and there will be regression. He may well be the cornerstone we all hope.
But it will not be automatic and ala’ Walker, there are no guarantees.

*** They have nothing to do with one another ***

There were all kinds of reasons for Walker to remain in AAA. Just because the front office ignored them doesn't mean they didn't exist.

[An Old Friend]

I went back and looked at number of CT threads around Walker and when he was called up. You may wish to do the same Rock.

How did you do this? I thought old threads were scrubbed, archive doesn't go back that far.

[Futuregm2]

In terms of hitting I would put JJ more on the Oscar Taveras path than the Jordan Walker.

Prior to getting called up

wRC+
Taveras
A: 190
AA: 155
AAA: 113
AAA: 125

Wetherholt
A: 140
AA: 152
AAA: 193

Walker
A: 208
A+: 125
AA: 124

Now obviously Wetherholt has separated himself from Taveras with his initial AAA performance. I would also point out that both Taveras and Walker went down as the level got harder while Wetherholt has done the exact opposite.

[An Old Friend]

In terms of hitting I would put JJ more on the Oscar Taveras path than the Jordan Walker.

Prior to getting called up

wRC+
Taveras
A: 190
AA: 155
AAA: 113
AAA: 125

Wetherholt
A: 140
AA: 152
AAA: 193

Walker
A: 208
A+: 125
AA: 124

Now obviously Wetherholt has separated himself from Taveras with his initial AAA performance.

Yeah, although Taveras was playing hurt. He was hitting .362 with a .988 OPS in May before he injured the ankle. He came back in June and tried to play on it, hitting .280 with a .735 OPS. He was bouncing back in 2014 but hadn't fully recovered from the ankle surgery.

[3dender]

I went back and looked at number of CT threads around Walker and when he was called up. You may wish to do the same Rock.

How did you do this? I thought old threads were scrubbed, archive doesn't go back that far.

yeah but still

[3dender]

J. Walker - 21 yrs old & no college playing experience

J.J.W. - 23 yrs old in one month, four years of college playing experience & destroying AA/AAA (.310 .425 .528 .953).

No comparison to Walker as to being "ready".

JJW isn't being rushed, he's right on schedule satch and needs to be up here as soon as he passes that rookie eligible in 2026 date!

Respect all the perspectives here.

I did not say he was being rushed. I expect to see him in Sept or the starting 9 in 2026.
Nor did I compare the two, because, as pointed out, JJ has much better credentials.
I did say that unrealistic expectations can come back to bite you.
As they have with JW.
I went back and looked at number of CT threads around Walker and when he was called up. You may wish to do the same Rock.

You literally have their names together in the title with the word "advisory" and your entire OP is about how we shouldn't expect JJ to do that well because of what Walker did. So yeah, you're comparing them whether you admit it or not.

If you truly didn't want to compare them you could just start a thread about how we should be careful not to expect too much of him and buy into the hype, which I happen to agree with. But that's not a very controversial take so it probably wouldn't have gotten as much attention as this one.

[DickyBennett]

What did Taveras, Walker and Gorman all have in common?

Extremely Long swings, that don't work at the MLB level.

With the average MLB heater over 95, you have to be short to the ball and track the ball.

JJW is exactly the type of hitter that works in MLB nowadays.

[zbasspro]

"The next AP"? I don't recall any over the top hype that bad, however, many thought he would be a MOTO bat. I don't think thinking was out of line. More times than not, those type players are going to have success. It's just a bummer, it seems we've been getting more than our share of busts lately. I believe JJ breaks that streak for us.