Cardinals should believe in Jordan Walker's breakout for 15.7-degree reasons

Cardinals should believe in Jordan Walker's breakout for 15.7-degree reasons originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The St. Louis Cardinals are a rebuilding team, as Chaim Bloom tore apart a lot of the roster in trades with Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, and Brendan Donovan.

More moves could be on the horizon as well. But things might already look a bit different thanks to the sudden breakout of Jordan Walker. He's finally reaching his potential. But, is it for real?

MLB.com's Bill Ladson shared his take on Walker's breakout, pointing to one key statistic in launch-angle as a reason Cardinals fans and the franchise itself should believe that this breakout is indeed for real.

Cardinals have a launch-angle reason to believe in Jordan Walker

"Jordan Walker is reaching his potential," Ladson writes. "... The Cardinals often complained about Walker hitting too many group balls over the years. Entering Sunday's action, Walker's launch angle is at 15.7 degrees, up from the 10.3-degree mark he recorded last year."

Walker is making contact more often this season, but the important thing is that his contact isn't being hit into the ground as much. He's getting air underneath the ball.

A change from 10.3 degrees in launch angle to 15.7 degrees is massive. That's been a huge reason for his incredibly hot start to the season. As Ladson noted, "A more upright stance has helped improve that number."