Cardinals' Jordan Walker 'having fun' displaying consistent power from new cleanup role

Cardinals' Jordan Walker 'having fun' displaying consistent power from new cleanup role originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

St. Louis Cardinals youngster Jordan Walker is having "a lot of fun."

Three home runs in three games, four in five?

Who wouldn't be having fun?

One of MLB's top sluggers to open the season, Walker on Wednesday connected on Brad Lord's 85-mph, full-count slider and delivered a 107.8-mph line drive over the center-field wall at Nationals Park, barely evading the effort of Washington Nationals outfielder Jacob Young.

The fifth-inning solo homer helped propel the Cardinals to a 6-1 victory and earn the three-game series win. The Cardinals (7-5) open a three-game series against the slow-starting Boston Red Sox (4-8) on Friday at Busch Stadium.

After producing just 11 home runs in 574 plate appearances in 162 combined games during 2024 and '25, the 23-year-old fourth-year player slammed five homers in 49 plate appearances to start '26.

Is Walker finally developing into the consistent power threat the Cardinals' front office envisioned when it drafted him No. 21 overall in the 2020 draft?

Cleanup hitter Jordan Walker proving draft status

Some league insiders were beginning to question if Walker would develop into a middle-of-the-order slugging threat. Compiling a combined minus-2.5 WAR mark over the previous two campaigns, Walker struggled, hitting just .201 in 51 games in '24.

During spring training, the internal and external questions persisted as he slashed .205/.255/.273 with just one homer and 16 strikeouts in 44 at-bats.

That certainly was not much fun.

Since the regular season started, however, Walker has been having a blast - literally. Entering Thursday's off day, he was tied for the big-league lead in homers (five) and ranked in the top-10 for OPS (1.049), RBI (12) and slugging percentage (.682).

"Oh, man, it's a lot of fun being out here on a baseball field with this group of guys," Walker said, as reported by MLB.com. "It's a lot of fun."

The good times started last week after Walker was inserted as the cleanup batter after Masyn Winn sustained an injury. As the No. 4 hitter, Walker has slashed .294/.368/.824 with three homers and four RBI.

Party on.