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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.

Brilliant! Change to the "Pujols stance" even though your baseball pitch recognition sucks... that will do it!

There’s a reason he was a top prospect, the talent is there. He’s still young and should probably still be in the minors. Let’s just hope he can put it together.

And ignore scouty. His main function here is to criticize other posts. He is compelled to for some reason.

JohnnyMO wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:18 am There’s a reason he was a top prospect, the talent is there. He’s still young and should probably still be in the minors. Let’s just hope he can put it together.

And ignore scouty. His main function here is to criticize other posts. He is compelled to for some reason.

Tell me about his talent...how does a stance change enhance his inability to understand his strike zone/pitch recognition.

No, he performed as a gigantic fish in a small creatures pond...now he's with other big fish and an utter abomination.

What talent does he have? Strong arm. Yay! No position he can hold down...no hitting tools. Solid speed but how's that help when walking back to the dugout after ABs?

ClassicO wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 08:56 am 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.

scoutyjones2 wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:30 am

JohnnyMO wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:18 am There’s a reason he was a top prospect, the talent is there. He’s still young and should probably still be in the minors. Let’s just hope he can put it together.

And ignore scouty. His main function here is to criticize other posts. He is compelled to for some reason.

Tell me about his talent...how does a stance change enhance his inability to understand his strike zone/pitch recognition.

No, he performed as a gigantic fish in a small creatures pond...now he's with other big fish and an utter abomination.

What talent does he have? Strong arm. Yay! No position he can hold down...no hitting tools. Solid speed but how's that help when walking back to the dugout after ABs?

He has elite bat speed and EVs. He has a strong arm. And he has good speed. On top of all of that he’s also extremely likable. If he had even remotely solid pitch recognition he would be a very good player to have. But a las, he hasn’t gotten to that point yet. He’s still young enough though that he could figure it out. Until then he’ll be an enigma.

ScotchMIrish wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:39 am

ClassicO wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 08:56 am 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.

Teams figured out he couldn't lay off low breaking balls.

Have they tried just sitting him in a lawn chair in the cage with a pitch machine that randomly throws FB v. slider, for as many hours/days as it takes until he can tell the difference halfway down the cage?

An eye exam?

I am not ready to trade him yet, as the unteachable stuff is off the charts.

However, I would send him down with no timeframe for coming back up and just let him play in the minors every day. Hopefully, something clicks. Hopefully, he figures out how to lay off the low, wide breakers.

Basil Shabazz wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:48 am I am not ready to trade him yet, as the unteachable stuff is off the charts.

However, I would send him down with no timeframe for coming back up and just let him play in the minors every day. Hopefully, something clicks. Hopefully, he figures out how to lay off the low, wide breakers.

Well you do have a timeframe, it’s until the end of the 2025 AAA season. This year would be his last option, so you have 2-3 months and an offseason to get him to figure it out.

OR you could get through this season and send him down next year for the whole year or until he really starts mashing in AAA under a new Bloom minor league development system.

Poor pitch recognition

Unless C. Bloom/R. Cerfolio think they can fix that pitch recognition problem, then Walker could be on his way out of St. Louis given they have no connection to him other than inheriting him from Mo.

Honestly, he needs to be in Memphis working on it now, why just let him sit on the bench?

Burleson has surpassed him as the starting RF and is also now the frontrunner for the OD rightfield job in 2026.

Hello Memphis

JMO

ScotchMIrish wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:39 am

ClassicO wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 08:56 am 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.

They gave him a big league job before he was ready and properly developed. They ignored all the warning signs and promoted him because he was ranked highly and they wanted a PR win.

They tried to skip steps in the development process and it bit them in the rear.

An Old Friend wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:52 am

ScotchMIrish wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:39 am

ClassicO wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 08:56 am 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.

They gave him a big league job before he was ready and properly developed. They ignored all the warning signs and promoted him because he was ranked highly and they wanted a PR win.

They tried to skip steps in the development process and it bit them in the rear.

Maybe they genuinely thought he was ready and it wasn’t because of his “ranking” or a “PR win”?

Hard to ignore the “warning signs” when a guy is hitting .300 with patience and power at every level despite being among the youngest player at every level.

Maybe it’s more of the whole Billy Beane thing. He had never failed at any level until the MLB. And he really didn’t “fail” until 2024. He hit better in his rookie year than most around here expected him to hit.

Futuregm2 wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:50 am

Basil Shabazz wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:48 am I am not ready to trade him yet, as the unteachable stuff is off the charts.

However, I would send him down with no timeframe for coming back up and just let him play in the minors every day. Hopefully, something clicks. Hopefully, he figures out how to lay off the low, wide breakers.

Well you do have a timeframe, it’s until the end of the 2025 AAA season. This year would be his last option, so you have 2-3 months and an offseason to get him to figure it out.

OR you could get through this season and send him down next year for the whole year or until he really starts mashing in AAA under a new Bloom minor league development system.

I didn't realize that... yeah that's an important consideration thanks for pointing it out.

3dender wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:58 am

Futuregm2 wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:50 am

Basil Shabazz wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:48 am I am not ready to trade him yet, as the unteachable stuff is off the charts.

However, I would send him down with no timeframe for coming back up and just let him play in the minors every day. Hopefully, something clicks. Hopefully, he figures out how to lay off the low, wide breakers.

Well you do have a timeframe, it’s until the end of the 2025 AAA season. This year would be his last option, so you have 2-3 months and an offseason to get him to figure it out.

OR you could get through this season and send him down next year for the whole year or until he really starts mashing in AAA under a new Bloom minor league development system.

I didn't realize that... yeah that's an important consideration thanks for pointing it out.

Of course! They stupidly sent him down two years in a row like 20 games into the season. Poor decisions on the Cardinals front office part has put them into a corner with regards to Walker.

Futuregm2 wrote: ↑25 Jun 2025 10:57 am
Maybe they genuinely thought he was ready and it wasn’t because of his “ranking” or a “PR win”?

Walker hasn't helped himself much but he was put in a position to fail. Releasing to the public that Walker's swing is no good and must be modified AFTER bringing him to MLB and watching him tie or break or whatever the rookie hit streak record was, one of, if not THE most asinine piece of player development I've ever heard of.

Should have NEVER seen an MLB field outside of Spring Training if the Cards knew this was going to be an issue.

Sad thing is he did seem to be turning a corner right before the wrist injury. Had hit .300 or something over his last 10 games with decent OPS.

BUT, kid JUST turned 23 last month so there's still time but man has it been ugly.