RotoGraphs on Jordan Walker

[Galatians221jb1]

I will believe it when I see the breakout. Unless he learns to lay off the low and away breaking ball off the plate, and stops taking strike one right down the middle, it really matters little what his back hip is doing. The kid needs to relax, and swing at strikes. I am not saying it is an easy thing to do, but if cannot reset his whole approach to ABs, then he will continue to struggle. See the ball, hit the ball, swing at strikes. Sounds easy.....but this isn't slow pitch. Some guys can, some guys cannot. Stormin' Norman is a mistake pitch hitter who cannot lay off the high fastball. Again, another guy who needs to adjust his approach. Hopefully these guys can do that. Donovan is a guy who consistently takes good ABs. I will miss him....

Amen! His hitting habits wouldn’t be tolerated by Whitey for instance. Walker is obviously looking for breaking balls he can pull early in the count and takes fastballs right down the middle. Then he guesses fastball with two strikes and the entire universe knows he’s getting a breaking ball low and outside but he’s fooled on the pitch. Whitey forced Ozzie to stop hitting fly balls by betting him $20 paid to him for every ground ball and a $20 fine for every fly ball. Transformed Ozzie’s career. Ended up with 2,500 hits and a ticket to Cooperstown. I’m sure LaRussa would get Walker’s approach straightened out as well. Our coaching has failed Walker. Give him a few hours with Teddy Simmons or Jim Edmonds or bring in Matt Holliday or Pujols and teach Walker what’s important.

[Cardinals4Life]

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/is-jordan ... -breakout/

This is the kind of c r a p that geeks like to spout and think they know baseball. He hits the ball hard? I would hope so! He's a mountain of a man. He doesn’t hit enough line drives? No kidding. Anyone watching him play could tell you that.
There aren't any metrics needed to know he chases terrible pitches all the time. That is OBVIOUS.
Bottom line, lots of big humans can hit a ball hard. Problem is he doesn't do it near enough.

Hope he can fix it, but color me not optimistic.

[C-Unit]

It would almost be more encouraging to me, rather than some random hot streak, to see Walker simply post a reasonable "floor" type season. Let's say we get to the AS break and he's hitting .270 with about a .775 OPS, maybe 8-10 homers and 40+ rbi or so. I'd look at that as a great sign. Although, I know given the defense and other factors that makeup WAR, that would probably not be interpreted as enough overall value all things considered. Even still, that's the type of thing that would really encourage me about his hitting. I hope out hope but as the article outlines there are a lot of things to fix. What a shame how far we are now from the optimism around him as a prospect.

I agree. Let's hope JJW is the hitter he is hyped to be.....

For Wetherholt, I'm going to go off the 55 FV for now. In that, I don't think anyone is projecting him to be a league MVP type player. I think he has plus hit-tool abilities and that's the main appeal. If he becomes a consistent .290-.300 hitter (.370+ OBP) with 18-20 homers and 35+ doubles, I think he would be meeting expectations. He's going to have to be just one component of an overall bigger collection of core type position players. Hopefully RRodriguez, Bernal, and Baez (or Walker lol) are part of it one day along with Herrera and Winn (Burleson too). It'll have to grow.

Wetherholdt is rated a 60 as far as I can see and his hit tool was rated 65. I think Brendan Donovan with a bit more power is who he likely will be. So a 290/370/450 is probably the right expectation. Ceiling is probably 300/385/480. Donovan for comparison has a career slash line is 282/361/411. I agree with your comment entirely other than I am assuming your first line was a typo.

An entire team of Weatherholdt's is a really good team. I have always been of the view that a championship team needs 2 900+ 2 800+ 4 750 and 1 700 OPS guys with the 700 guy being a great defensive player. Hopefully Herrera will be a 900 guy. Wetheholdt and Burleson can be the 2 800 guys. That leaves a missing elite bat and improvement required from Winn, catchers and other OFs to meet those requirements.

I agree with this, and from time to time I like to look at this:

League wRC+ by lineup spot, buy only for the 12 playoff teams

1st..118
2nd..113
3rd...125
4th...115
5th...104
6th...102
7th...98
8th...87
9th...86

I find it interesting to consider that if you just come up with league average (or even slightly below) for the 7-8-9 spots you're coming out ahead. Get a platoon situation going that works and it's probably way ahead.

The lineups that go all the way do seem to be characterized by having 0 weak spots. They have a deep enough roster to get that at least league average production out of every spot.

That's where I hope that even the Jesus Baez's and Deniel Ortiz's of the world turn out to at least be serviceable players. But for that anchor in the middle, I do think they will have to go out, beyond Wetherholt, Herrera, and Burleson, and find that next Goldschmidt/Holliday/Edmonds/Aaron Judge type of run producer from outside the organization. A consistent 130+ wRC+ hitter.

[zuck698]

It would almost be more encouraging to me, rather than some random hot streak, to see Walker simply post a reasonable "floor" type season. Let's say we get to the AS break and he's hitting .270 with about a .775 OPS, maybe 8-10 homers and 40+ rbi or so. I'd look at that as a great sign. Although, I know given the defense and other factors that makeup WAR, that would probably not be interpreted as enough overall value all things considered. Even still, that's the type of thing that would really encourage me about his hitting. I hope out hope but as the article outlines there are a lot of things to fix. What a shame how far we are now from the optimism around him as a prospect.

If Walker puts up a 775 OPS and he can improve his defense to average, we should be doing cartwheels. That is an enormous improvement. He has the talent, it is all about pitch recognition. If he can learn that, he will probably not hit the ceiling we all hoped he might. But, a solid 800 OPS player is not unattainable. For players with eligible ABS, there were only 47 players that did that in 2025. So that is still a fantastic player even if not elite. The Cardinals had exactly 1 player on the list of 47 last year, Alec Burleson.

Well, the other aspect of it that makes it interesting is Walker is arb-eligible in 2027. So it's interesting to think about different outcomes this season and how that affects the decision next offseason on whether to trade him or keep him into his arb years, or potentially even non-tender depending on what happens.

I disagreed with the last paragraph of the article. No use of trading him now while he is still cheap. He still has time at 23 to maybe find something in the swing. Only trade that possibly could make sense, is trading for someone else's star prospect not living up to potential. Like Mayo from Baltimore possibly.

[C-Unit]

It would almost be more encouraging to me, rather than some random hot streak, to see Walker simply post a reasonable "floor" type season. Let's say we get to the AS break and he's hitting .270 with about a .775 OPS, maybe 8-10 homers and 40+ rbi or so. I'd look at that as a great sign. Although, I know given the defense and other factors that makeup WAR, that would probably not be interpreted as enough overall value all things considered. Even still, that's the type of thing that would really encourage me about his hitting. I hope out hope but as the article outlines there are a lot of things to fix. What a shame how far we are now from the optimism around him as a prospect.

If Walker puts up a 775 OPS and he can improve his defense to average, we should be doing cartwheels. That is an enormous improvement. He has the talent, it is all about pitch recognition. If he can learn that, he will probably not hit the ceiling we all hoped he might. But, a solid 800 OPS player is not unattainable. For players with eligible ABS, there were only 47 players that did that in 2025. So that is still a fantastic player even if not elite. The Cardinals had exactly 1 player on the list of 47 last year, Alec Burleson.

Well, the other aspect of it that makes it interesting is Walker is arb-eligible in 2027. So it's interesting to think about different outcomes this season and how that affects the decision next offseason on whether to trade him or keep him into his arb years, or potentially even non-tender depending on what happens.

I disagreed with the last paragraph of the article. No use of trading him now while he is still cheap. He still has time at 23 to maybe find something in the swing. Only trade that possibly could make sense, is trading for someone else's star prospect not living up to potential. Like Mayo from Baltimore possibly.

Yeah, I agree. The big question is for next offseason when you are deciding what to do about paying him an arbitration salary.

There's going to be different choices based on whether he blows chunks again, has a reasonable (.775 OPS) season, or a breakout (.850+ OPS) season.

[zuck698]

It would almost be more encouraging to me, rather than some random hot streak, to see Walker simply post a reasonable "floor" type season. Let's say we get to the AS break and he's hitting .270 with about a .775 OPS, maybe 8-10 homers and 40+ rbi or so. I'd look at that as a great sign. Although, I know given the defense and other factors that makeup WAR, that would probably not be interpreted as enough overall value all things considered. Even still, that's the type of thing that would really encourage me about his hitting. I hope out hope but as the article outlines there are a lot of things to fix. What a shame how far we are now from the optimism around him as a prospect.

If Walker puts up a 775 OPS and he can improve his defense to average, we should be doing cartwheels. That is an enormous improvement. He has the talent, it is all about pitch recognition. If he can learn that, he will probably not hit the ceiling we all hoped he might. But, a solid 800 OPS player is not unattainable. For players with eligible ABS, there were only 47 players that did that in 2025. So that is still a fantastic player even if not elite. The Cardinals had exactly 1 player on the list of 47 last year, Alec Burleson.

Well, the other aspect of it that makes it interesting is Walker is arb-eligible in 2027. So it's interesting to think about different outcomes this season and how that affects the decision next offseason on whether to trade him or keep him into his arb years, or potentially even non-tender depending on what happens.

I disagreed with the last paragraph of the article. No use of trading him now while he is still cheap. He still has time at 23 to maybe find something in the swing. Only trade that possibly could make sense, is trading for someone else's star prospect not living up to potential. Like Mayo from Baltimore possibly.

Yeah, I agree. The big question is for next offseason when you are deciding what to do about paying him an arbitration salary.

There's going to be different choices based on whether he blows chunks again, has a reasonable (.775 OPS) season, or a breakout (.850+ OPS) season.

100% I don't understand why people are proposing to trade Walker now? He is cheap currently. Not sure what people think we would get for him that would make the Cards any better. The kid has talent, let's give that talent a chance to shine while he is cheap. Get rid of him if the talent doesn't evolve and he starts getting expensive. Some desperate G.M. out there will still think he is the next Judge and can fix him then.

[C-Unit]

It would almost be more encouraging to me, rather than some random hot streak, to see Walker simply post a reasonable "floor" type season. Let's say we get to the AS break and he's hitting .270 with about a .775 OPS, maybe 8-10 homers and 40+ rbi or so. I'd look at that as a great sign. Although, I know given the defense and other factors that makeup WAR, that would probably not be interpreted as enough overall value all things considered. Even still, that's the type of thing that would really encourage me about his hitting. I hope out hope but as the article outlines there are a lot of things to fix. What a shame how far we are now from the optimism around him as a prospect.

If Walker puts up a 775 OPS and he can improve his defense to average, we should be doing cartwheels. That is an enormous improvement. He has the talent, it is all about pitch recognition. If he can learn that, he will probably not hit the ceiling we all hoped he might. But, a solid 800 OPS player is not unattainable. For players with eligible ABS, there were only 47 players that did that in 2025. So that is still a fantastic player even if not elite. The Cardinals had exactly 1 player on the list of 47 last year, Alec Burleson.

Well, the other aspect of it that makes it interesting is Walker is arb-eligible in 2027. So it's interesting to think about different outcomes this season and how that affects the decision next offseason on whether to trade him or keep him into his arb years, or potentially even non-tender depending on what happens.

I disagreed with the last paragraph of the article. No use of trading him now while he is still cheap. He still has time at 23 to maybe find something in the swing. Only trade that possibly could make sense, is trading for someone else's star prospect not living up to potential. Like Mayo from Baltimore possibly.

Yeah, I agree. The big question is for next offseason when you are deciding what to do about paying him an arbitration salary.

There's going to be different choices based on whether he blows chunks again, has a reasonable (.775 OPS) season, or a breakout (.850+ OPS) season.

100% I don't understand why people are proposing to trade Walker now? He is cheap currently. Not sure what people think we would get for him that would make the Cards any better. The kid has talent, let's give that talent a chance to shine while he is cheap. Get rid of him if the talent doesn't evolve and he starts getting expensive. Some desperate G.M. out there will still think he is the next Judge and can fix him then.

I agree. No upside to getting rid of him now.

[Dicktar2023]

It would be nice if Walker, after a winter of learning all this new stuff from St. Bloom's revamped minor league coaching staff, would have big league coaches who are capable of helping apply the new organizational developmental philosophy on the ML club.

But he doesn't, thanks to the baffling decision to keep Marmol and his clowns. Walker is still going to be surrounded by the same laissez-faire coaches who think he has attitude problems (maybe for good reasons), but who are apparently afraid to confront him directly.

He's still going to be rewarded for having a big game by taking the next day off.

IMO it's naive to think anything is going to change with Walker this year.

[Melville]

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/is-jordan ... -breakout/

This is the kind of c r a p that geeks like to spout and think they know baseball. He hits the ball hard? I would hope so! He's a mountain of a man. He doesn’t hit enough line drives? No kidding. Anyone watching him play could tell you that.
There aren't any metrics needed to know he chases terrible pitches all the time. That is OBVIOUS.
Bottom line, lots of big humans can hit a ball hard. Problem is he doesn't do it near enough.

Hope he can fix it, but color me not optimistic.

Largely agree.
Whoever wrote the linked piece knows the data - but doesn't know the game at all.
Fortunately, I do.
Yes, Walker hits the ball hard.
Yes, there is something wrong with his swing which leaves him vulnerable.
But the notion that he hits the ball to the biggest part of the park too often and does not pull enough - and that the solution is for him to focus on increasing his power production to left field - is idiocy.
Of course, it is also the idiocy STL has been feeding him the past couple of years.
The CORRECT BAEBALL ANSWER, as I have accurately and perfectly stated previously, is for him to CLOSE his stance, STOP trying to pull the ball, and focus on doing what he does best: hit the ball hard to the biggest part of the park, where there is the greatest likelihood that those hard-hit balls become hard HITS.
About the only advice the "author" of that piece got right is the conclusion that the best solution is to trade Walker to a team which might be able to help him get on track - which is the path I alone have advised Bloom to take this off-season.
Walker is not likely to find a "fix" with the current STL staff.
Easy.
Obvious.
Correct.

[zuck698]

It would be nice if Walker, after a winter of learning all this new stuff from St. Bloom's revamped minor league coaching staff, would have big league coaches who are capable of helping apply the new organizational developmental philosophy on the ML club.

But he doesn't, thanks to the baffling decision to keep Marmol and his clowns. Walker is still going to be surrounded by the same laissez-faire coaches who think he has attitude problems (maybe for good reasons), but who are apparently afraid to confront him directly.

He's still going to be rewarded for having a big game by taking the next day off.

IMO it's naive to think anything is going to change with Walker this year.

You may be correct. I would have liked Marmol and some of his coaches gone. They did bring on an additional assistant hitting coach for next year. While he may not progress, I don't think that changes the fact that we shouldn't get rid of him while he is still super cheap and super young. IMO

[zuck698]

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/is-jordan ... -breakout/

This is the kind of c r a p that geeks like to spout and think they know baseball. He hits the ball hard? I would hope so! He's a mountain of a man. He doesn’t hit enough line drives? No kidding. Anyone watching him play could tell you that.
There aren't any metrics needed to know he chases terrible pitches all the time. That is OBVIOUS.
Bottom line, lots of big humans can hit a ball hard. Problem is he doesn't do it near enough.

Hope he can fix it, but color me not optimistic.

Largely agree.
Whoever wrote the linked piece knows the data - but doesn't know the game at all.
Fortunately, I do.
Yes, Walker hits the ball hard.
Yes, there is something wrong with his swing which leaves him vulnerable.
But the notion that he hits the ball to the biggest part of the park too often and does not pull enough - and that the solution is for him to focus on increasing his power production to left field - is idiocy.
Of course, it is also the idiocy STL has been feeding him the past couple of years.
The CORRECT BAEBALL ANSWER, as I have accurately and perfectly stated previously, is for him to CLOSE his stance, STOP trying to pull the ball, and focus on doing what he does best: hit the ball hard to the biggest part of the park, where there is the greatest likelihood that those hard-hit balls become hard HITS.
About the only advice the "author" of that piece got right is the conclusion that the best solution is to trade Walker to a team which might be able to help him get on track - which is the path I alone have advised Bloom to take this off-season.
Walker is not likely to find a "fix" with the current STL staff.
Easy.
Obvious.
Correct.

Of course you did. What size hat you wearing now? Has to be in the 20's right?

[ICCFIM2]

It would almost be more encouraging to me, rather than some random hot streak, to see Walker simply post a reasonable "floor" type season. Let's say we get to the AS break and he's hitting .270 with about a .775 OPS, maybe 8-10 homers and 40+ rbi or so. I'd look at that as a great sign. Although, I know given the defense and other factors that makeup WAR, that would probably not be interpreted as enough overall value all things considered. Even still, that's the type of thing that would really encourage me about his hitting. I hope out hope but as the article outlines there are a lot of things to fix. What a shame how far we are now from the optimism around him as a prospect.

I agree. Let's hope JJW is the hitter he is hyped to be.....

For Wetherholt, I'm going to go off the 55 FV for now. In that, I don't think anyone is projecting him to be a league MVP type player. I think he has plus hit-tool abilities and that's the main appeal. If he becomes a consistent .290-.300 hitter (.370+ OBP) with 18-20 homers and 35+ doubles, I think he would be meeting expectations. He's going to have to be just one component of an overall bigger collection of core type position players. Hopefully RRodriguez, Bernal, and Baez (or Walker lol) are part of it one day along with Herrera and Winn (Burleson too). It'll have to grow.

Wetherholdt is rated a 60 as far as I can see and his hit tool was rated 65. I think Brendan Donovan with a bit more power is who he likely will be. So a 290/370/450 is probably the right expectation. Ceiling is probably 300/385/480. Donovan for comparison has a career slash line is 282/361/411. I agree with your comment entirely other than I am assuming your first line was a typo.

An entire team of Weatherholdt's is a really good team. I have always been of the view that a championship team needs 2 900+ 2 800+ 4 750 and 1 700 OPS guys with the 700 guy being a great defensive player. Hopefully Herrera will be a 900 guy. Wetheholdt and Burleson can be the 2 800 guys. That leaves a missing elite bat and improvement required from Winn, catchers and other OFs to meet those requirements.

I agree with this, and from time to time I like to look at this:

League wRC+ by lineup spot, buy only for the 12 playoff teams

1st..118
2nd..113
3rd...125
4th...115
5th...104
6th...102
7th...98
8th...87
9th...86

I find it interesting to consider that if you just come up with league average (or even slightly below) for the 7-8-9 spots you're coming out ahead. Get a platoon situation going that works and it's probably way ahead.

The lineups that go all the way do seem to be characterized by having 0 weak spots. They have a deep enough roster to get that at least league average production out of every spot.

That's where I hope that even the Jesus Baez's and Deniel Ortiz's of the world turn out to at least be serviceable players. But for that anchor in the middle, I do think they will have to go out, beyond Wetherholt, Herrera, and Burleson, and find that next Goldschmidt/Holliday/Edmonds/Aaron Judge type of run producer from outside the organization. A consistent 130+ wRC+ hitter.

I use OPS because it is easier for me to wrap my head around...An interesting team was the Brewers, who had no hitters above 800 OPS, but 7 guys between 748 and 795 and another guy at 721. For those 7 guys their OPS+ ranged from 108 - 121. Not one hitter in their line-up is terrifying and not one hitter in their line-up is an easy out. Add a starting rotation of Peralta, Priester, Misiorowski and and Woodruff and that is a very good team. Mostly young guys too. So the Cards are going to have to improve a lot to compete with the Brewers over the next 3-5 years. In particular, our starting rotation is light years behind the Brewers.

[Melville]

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/is-jordan ... -breakout/

This is the kind of c r a p that geeks like to spout and think they know baseball. He hits the ball hard? I would hope so! He's a mountain of a man. He doesn’t hit enough line drives? No kidding. Anyone watching him play could tell you that.
There aren't any metrics needed to know he chases terrible pitches all the time. That is OBVIOUS.
Bottom line, lots of big humans can hit a ball hard. Problem is he doesn't do it near enough.

Hope he can fix it, but color me not optimistic.

Largely agree.
Whoever wrote the linked piece knows the data - but doesn't know the game at all.
Fortunately, I do.
Yes, Walker hits the ball hard.
Yes, there is something wrong with his swing which leaves him vulnerable.
But the notion that he hits the ball to the biggest part of the park too often and does not pull enough - and that the solution is for him to focus on increasing his power production to left field - is idiocy.
Of course, it is also the idiocy STL has been feeding him the past couple of years.
The CORRECT BAEBALL ANSWER, as I have accurately and perfectly stated previously, is for him to CLOSE his stance, STOP trying to pull the ball, and focus on doing what he does best: hit the ball hard to the biggest part of the park, where there is the greatest likelihood that those hard-hit balls become hard HITS.
About the only advice the "author" of that piece got right is the conclusion that the best solution is to trade Walker to a team which might be able to help him get on track - which is the path I alone have advised Bloom to take this off-season.
Walker is not likely to find a "fix" with the current STL staff.
Easy.
Obvious.
Correct.

Of course you did. What size hat you wearing now? Has to be in the 20's right?

Never about me.
Only and always about the game.
For anyone to claim that a player should avoid hitting the ball hard to the biggest part of the park is complete foolishness and betrays an ignorance of the game.

[C-Unit]

It would almost be more encouraging to me, rather than some random hot streak, to see Walker simply post a reasonable "floor" type season. Let's say we get to the AS break and he's hitting .270 with about a .775 OPS, maybe 8-10 homers and 40+ rbi or so. I'd look at that as a great sign. Although, I know given the defense and other factors that makeup WAR, that would probably not be interpreted as enough overall value all things considered. Even still, that's the type of thing that would really encourage me about his hitting. I hope out hope but as the article outlines there are a lot of things to fix. What a shame how far we are now from the optimism around him as a prospect.

I agree. Let's hope JJW is the hitter he is hyped to be.....

For Wetherholt, I'm going to go off the 55 FV for now. In that, I don't think anyone is projecting him to be a league MVP type player. I think he has plus hit-tool abilities and that's the main appeal. If he becomes a consistent .290-.300 hitter (.370+ OBP) with 18-20 homers and 35+ doubles, I think he would be meeting expectations. He's going to have to be just one component of an overall bigger collection of core type position players. Hopefully RRodriguez, Bernal, and Baez (or Walker lol) are part of it one day along with Herrera and Winn (Burleson too). It'll have to grow.

Wetherholdt is rated a 60 as far as I can see and his hit tool was rated 65. I think Brendan Donovan with a bit more power is who he likely will be. So a 290/370/450 is probably the right expectation. Ceiling is probably 300/385/480. Donovan for comparison has a career slash line is 282/361/411. I agree with your comment entirely other than I am assuming your first line was a typo.

An entire team of Weatherholdt's is a really good team. I have always been of the view that a championship team needs 2 900+ 2 800+ 4 750 and 1 700 OPS guys with the 700 guy being a great defensive player. Hopefully Herrera will be a 900 guy. Wetheholdt and Burleson can be the 2 800 guys. That leaves a missing elite bat and improvement required from Winn, catchers and other OFs to meet those requirements.

I agree with this, and from time to time I like to look at this:

League wRC+ by lineup spot, buy only for the 12 playoff teams

1st..118
2nd..113
3rd...125
4th...115
5th...104
6th...102
7th...98
8th...87
9th...86

I find it interesting to consider that if you just come up with league average (or even slightly below) for the 7-8-9 spots you're coming out ahead. Get a platoon situation going that works and it's probably way ahead.

The lineups that go all the way do seem to be characterized by having 0 weak spots. They have a deep enough roster to get that at least league average production out of every spot.

That's where I hope that even the Jesus Baez's and Deniel Ortiz's of the world turn out to at least be serviceable players. But for that anchor in the middle, I do think they will have to go out, beyond Wetherholt, Herrera, and Burleson, and find that next Goldschmidt/Holliday/Edmonds/Aaron Judge type of run producer from outside the organization. A consistent 130+ wRC+ hitter.

I use OPS because it is easier for me to wrap my head around...An interesting team was the Brewers, who had no hitters above 800 OPS, but 7 guys between 748 and 795 and another guy at 721. For those 7 guys their OPS+ ranged from 108 - 121. Not one hitter in their line-up is terrifying and not one hitter in their line-up is an easy out. Add a starting rotation of Peralta, Priester, Misiorowski and and Woodruff and that is a very good team. Mostly young guys too. So the Cards are going to have to improve a lot to compete with the Brewers over the next 3-5 years. In particular, our starting rotation is light years behind the Brewers.

Good point and the Brewers are maybe an example of the offense that has no star but also not many serious weak points. I would contend however that their offense as a whole held them back from going further. Of course the Dodgers held them back. But the Blue Jays put up a strong fight because they finally got over the hump of putting together a championship caliber offense with both the depth and the starpower. I think the most successful teams typically have 55-60% of their WAR coming from their position players.

Edit: the Brewers did have 28 position player war to 18 pitching war. Both 6th place out of 30. They had the 9th out of 30 team wRC+ of 107.

[Cardinals4Life]

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/is-jordan ... -breakout/

This is the kind of c r a p that geeks like to spout and think they know baseball. He hits the ball hard? I would hope so! He's a mountain of a man. He doesn’t hit enough line drives? No kidding. Anyone watching him play could tell you that.
There aren't any metrics needed to know he chases terrible pitches all the time. That is OBVIOUS.
Bottom line, lots of big humans can hit a ball hard. Problem is he doesn't do it near enough.

Hope he can fix it, but color me not optimistic.

Largely agree.
Whoever wrote the linked piece knows the data - but doesn't know the game at all.
Fortunately, I do.
Yes, Walker hits the ball hard.
Yes, there is something wrong with his swing which leaves him vulnerable.
But the notion that he hits the ball to the biggest part of the park too often and does not pull enough - and that the solution is for him to focus on increasing his power production to left field - is idiocy.
Of course, it is also the idiocy STL has been feeding him the past couple of years.
The CORRECT BAEBALL ANSWER, as I have accurately and perfectly stated previously, is for him to CLOSE his stance, STOP trying to pull the ball, and focus on doing what he does best: hit the ball hard to the biggest part of the park, where there is the greatest likelihood that those hard-hit balls become hard HITS.
About the only advice the "author" of that piece got right is the conclusion that the best solution is to trade Walker to a team which might be able to help him get on track - which is the path I alone have advised Bloom to take this off-season.
Walker is not likely to find a "fix" with the current STL staff.
Easy.
Obvious.
Correct.

Nice that somebody understands baseball. Hits are found in the biggest parts of the field (up the middle, left center to right center).

[Melville]

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/is-jordan ... -breakout/

This is the kind of c r a p that geeks like to spout and think they know baseball. He hits the ball hard? I would hope so! He's a mountain of a man. He doesn’t hit enough line drives? No kidding. Anyone watching him play could tell you that.
There aren't any metrics needed to know he chases terrible pitches all the time. That is OBVIOUS.
Bottom line, lots of big humans can hit a ball hard. Problem is he doesn't do it near enough.

Hope he can fix it, but color me not optimistic.

Largely agree.
Whoever wrote the linked piece knows the data - but doesn't know the game at all.
Fortunately, I do.
Yes, Walker hits the ball hard.
Yes, there is something wrong with his swing which leaves him vulnerable.
But the notion that he hits the ball to the biggest part of the park too often and does not pull enough - and that the solution is for him to focus on increasing his power production to left field - is idiocy.
Of course, it is also the idiocy STL has been feeding him the past couple of years.
The CORRECT BAEBALL ANSWER, as I have accurately and perfectly stated previously, is for him to CLOSE his stance, STOP trying to pull the ball, and focus on doing what he does best: hit the ball hard to the biggest part of the park, where there is the greatest likelihood that those hard-hit balls become hard HITS.
About the only advice the "author" of that piece got right is the conclusion that the best solution is to trade Walker to a team which might be able to help him get on track - which is the path I alone have advised Bloom to take this off-season.
Walker is not likely to find a "fix" with the current STL staff.
Easy.
Obvious.
Correct.

Nice that somebody understands baseball. Hits are found in the biggest parts of the field (up the middle, left center to right center).

Absolutely correct.
If trying to pull the ball more was the answer for Walker, it would have been proven over his past 2 seasons of trying to do so.
The Cardinals are telling him to do the exact opposite of what is needed.
Foolishness.