ST. LOUIS — We may still be unsure about what the 2022 baseball season will look like for the Cardinals, but the organization's top prospects are continuing to draw attention.
Nineteen-year-old power-hitting phenom Jordan Walker landed at the top of a prestigious list on Monday. Baseball America named Walker as the top third base prospect in all of baseball. Fellow Cardinals prospect Nolan Gorman, who is expected to debut with the Major League club sometime this year, was ranked No. 3 on the list.
Though still just 19, Walker has had quite the rise since the Cardinals drafted him with the No. 21 overall pick back in 2020.
Walker finished his first full season in professional baseball at high A ball with the Peoria Chiefs. In 82 games with single A Palm Beach and Peoria, Walker hit .317 with a .936 OPS, 14 home runs and 48 RBI.
We caught up with Walker in 2021 during his time in Peoria, where he said he was still learning and wanting to challenge himself against the best.
"I've always loved playing tough competition. Whether it's hard-throwers or people who throw to spots. It's just been my thing," Walker said. "I always thought that playing in high school wasn't the best competition. I always thought that playing kids who didn't throw hard or very accurately didn't really do anything for me. I'm always looking to get better. So this (Peoria) is the perfect setting. Low A was the perfect start for me because it introduced me to how professional baseball would be. Sometimes it's 97 on the corner, sometimes it's 97 at your face. So I've got to learn and adjust."
Since he's not on an MLB 40-man roster during the ongoing lockout, Walker is able to work with coaches at the Cardinals' spring training facility, including Jose Oquendo. Walker talked about Oquendo's effect on his game back in 2021.
"Mind-blowing. I thought I was good at defense before, but he showed me plenty of other ways to be more consistent," Walker said of Oquendo. "I trust him with any part of the game. It's not just fielding. He's giving me tips on baserunning, hitting and approach and things like that. Mainly fielding, though. He's shown me how to position my feet... and not just mechanics of fielding either. He's shown me different situations I should be thinking about, where I should be on the cut off if it's hit to left field and knowing the outfielders' arms and things like that. So just the whole aspect of the game. It's so cool to see how much knowledge he can share with you and I'm excited to see what else he can share with me."
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He's still a long way away, but Walker did say he has envisioned what it will be like when he does step to the plate at Busch Stadium for the first time.
"Plenty of times before I go to sleep," Walker said about thinking about being a Cardinal. "A dream is a dream, so I can dream. I've actually had a couple of dreams about it before. Hitting a home run there in a big-league game, but like who hasn't? What kid hasn't? I've visualized it, the feel, facing some of the big arms and stuff like that. I'm pretty excited to try and get there."