Has Jordan Walker Found Cheat Code That Has Him Tied for MLB HR Lead?

ST. LOUIS – In the past, the cheat code to coaxing Jordan Walker to, in essence, get himself out had been to throw pitches on the outer half of the plate – either fastballs on the corner or spin that starts outside and darts away from his flailing bat.

While Walker is not ready to say that he has completely solved that mystery, the Cardinals' slugger has given opposing pitchers something to extra to think about with his ability to drive balls on the outer half out of the park early this season.

“I don’t know about (a potential loophole) being completely closed and it’s not like everything is fixed for sure,” said Walker, who drilled his sixth home run of the season in the Cardinals 7-1 loss to the Red Sox at Busch Stadium on Saturday night. “But definitely I feel a little bit better going after that (outside corner) pitch than I have in the past.”

Walker moved into a tie with Baltimore slugging shortstop Gunnar Henderson and Houston DH Yordan Alvarez for the MLB lead in home runs with six. That homer was his fifth in the past seven games, and it extended his hitting streak to seven games.

After three years of mostly misery as he’s been unable to maintain much momentum at all – while being shuttled between the big leagues and Triple –A four times – Walker is hesitantly enjoying the best long-ball spree of his young career.

“It’s a hard game, for sure, but I always have fun playing it,” said Walker, who became the first player in Cards history with six home runs in his first 13 games of a season before turning 24 years old. “Right now, (the momentum) is pretty good and I just want to keep it going.”

Walker’s 429-foot drive to center field hit halfway up “Freese’s Landing” at Busch Stadium, and at the time it brought the Cards within one run of the Red Sox in the eighth inning. Boston reliever Garrett Whitlock tried to get ahead in the count by dotting a fastball on the outside corner, but the 6-foot-6, 245-pound Walker used every inch of his massive frame to not only reach the pitch, but also sent it screaming off the bat at 109.6 mph.

“The posture is real and not allowing his hands to be creeping up – which doesn’t allow him to be in and out of the zone or being going downhill – and he’s seeing the ball a lot better too,” said manager Oliver Marmol, who cracked a smile in the dugout when Walker correctly challenged a strike call early in the game and that told him the slugger was properly dialed in. “That pitch that was away and he challenged (the call), that’s him controlling the strike zone better and he’s staying on everything a lot better. That’s a big part of it.”

One Walker secret: 'Shutting my brain off'

Walker, who has worked more with assistant hitting coach Casey Chenoweth this season, said there are various things he’s changed to his stance, load position and timing elements, but admitted that he tries to block all that jargon out of his mind once he steps into the box. In Walker’s mind, he’s better being instinctual and athletic than being robotic and thinking too much in the box.

“I’m really not thinking about my mechanics and shutting my brain off the best that I can,” said Walker, who leads the Cardinals in batting average (.314), on base percentage (.386), slugging (.706), OPS (1.092) and RBI (13) in addition to the six long balls. “It’s never possible to shut everything off, but as best as I can if I can just not think about my mechanics and then just swing when the ball is ouCArdinals slugger

Cardinals' slugger Jordan Walker is tied for the MLB lead in home runs after smashing his sixth long ball of the season on Saturday night against the Red Sox. -- Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

A career .243 hitter with just 33 career home runs in three-plus seasons, Walker knows that he likely won’t stay as hot as he’s been early in the season over the course of 162 games. He said focusing more on the work – than simply the results – could help him end slumps sooner now that he’s see4ing balls better and getting to ones on the outer half of the plate.

“I don’t like thinking about mechanics, but when I do I’m looking at the i-pad (between at bats) and looking at when I’m starting,” Walker said. “Sometimes when I’m not seeing the ball, I’m starting too late. So, start earlier and go from there. Any mechanical things that I feel during the at bat, we can fix that tomorrow.

“When I go and ask (Chenoweth), ‘Hey! Am I starting too late?’ And he says, ’Yeah, now go hit!’ I like how simple he keeps it and having different people over there is really nice.”

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