Why Jordan Walker's breakout for Cardinals is way more impressive than it seems

The Cardinals slugger has a 2.2 bWAR through 34 games this season. That alone is a very impressive feat for the 23-year-old outfielder.

But, with the context of his absolutely terrible -1.7 bWAR last year in 111 games (tied for worst in MLB), it's a whole lot more impressive.

From 2023 through 2025, Walker had played in 279 games and had recorded -2.6 bWAR in his career. He hit 27 homers in that span, hitting .240 with a .680 OPS. His offense was a tab below average at 89 OPS+, but his defense was also terrible.

MORE: 5 reasons to believe in Jordan Walker's breakout for Cardinals

This year, not only does Walker already have 10 homers and a .308 average with a .961 OPS and 173 OPS+, but he's significantly better defensively.

He had been in the negative defensively, but this year, he's actually a plus defender. Walker went from a struggling hitter with bad defense to one of the best hitters in the league with good defense.

Before 2026, he had -2.6 bWAR for his career. It's been 34 games, and Walker already has cut into that number to drop it to just -0.4 bWAR for his career.

This breakout for Walker has been so impressive, as he's not simply playing great, but he's gone from one of the least valuable players in the league to one of the most valuable players in the league over the course of one year.

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