St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Jordan Walker. Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

Cardinals rookie joins elite company in franchise history

By Michael Carpenter | Last updated 6/19/23

St. Louis Cardinals top prospect outfielder Jordan Walker opened the 2023 season with the major league club and had a 12-game hit streak to begin his career.

Eight games later he found himself back in Triple-A, with the team sending him there to focus on creating better launch angles to pair with his high exit velocities.

Since his return on June 2, Walker has a slash line of .327/.417/.615 with four home runs and eight RBI in his 15 games.

Not only has the bat been better, but his patience at the plate is also being rewarded, with seven walks since returning to the major leagues compared to the three he had in the first 20 games of his career.

He is currently has an 11-game hitting streak, making him just the third player in Cardinals team history the age 21 or younger to have multiple 10+ game-hitting streaks in the same season joining franchise legends Albert Pujols and Rogers Hornsby.

Longest active MLB hitting streaks:
Shohei Ohtani, 14 games
Mookie Betts, 11 games
Jordan Walker, 10 games
Ryan McMahon, 9 games
Whit Merrifield, 9 games pic.twitter.com/Xc18NSDtBn
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) June 18, 2023

With two consecutive games with opposite-field home runs, Walker is not only getting more lift on the ball, but he is also powering balls the other way.

Jordan Walker belts an opposite-field homer for the second straight @Cardinals game: pic.twitter.com/n3OP7yQ9he
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 18, 2023

While his defense is still a work of progress, Walker's bat outweighs the potential risk he poses in the field. With the designated hitter spot available, the Cardinals have an opportunity to keep his bat in the lineup while he works on his defense outside of game action.

Trailing the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers by 8.5 games, the Cardinals will need to put together extended winning streaks in order to put a dent in the division deficit.

Walker showing signs of being a potential superstar will help provide the team some of the ingredients needed to put together those streaks. He hasn't looked overmatched against big league competition, and the team will look to continue to stack wins while the young prospect looks to keep his hot hitting going.

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