Who is Jordan Walker? Cardinals' 20-year-old outfield prospect looks to make immediate impact in St. Louis

Kevin Skiver

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Who is Jordan Walker? Cardinals' 20-year-old outfield prospect looks to make immediate impact in St. Louis image

The Cardinals are taking a big swing for the 2023 season with 20-year-old top prospect Jordan Walker making the Opening Day roster.

Walker, an outfielder and third baseman, is joining a team that is already loaded with talent. Nolan Arenado has third base on lock, while the outfield is a combination of Tyler O'Neill, Lars Nootbaar, Dylan Carlson, and now Walker. There's a good chance Walker starts the season in right field, leaving Carlson as the odd one out.

Walker has impressed in every level he's played at. Last year with Double-A Springfield, the 21st overall pick of the 2020 draft hit .306/.388/.510 in 119 games. He also had 19 home runs in that span.

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With that in mind, the Cardinals brought him on for spring training, where he slashed .277/.299/.492 with three homers.

Putting it as simply as it needs to be put: Walker had nothing left to prove. Promoting him made sense here.

Here's the moment Walker was told.

The Cardinals' Twitter account also noted Walker is the youngest player to promoted for St. Louis since Rick Ankiel in 1999, and the youngest position player since David Green in 1981. At 20 years and 309 days, he edged out Green, who was 20 years and 274 days.

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How old is Jordan Walker?

Born May 22, 2002, Walker is 20 years old going on 21.

When he makes his MLB debut Thursday, Walker will be 20 years and 313 days old. Plenty of players have debuted in their teens, but it's a bit more rare to start on the Opening Day roster at his age.

He'll be joining a stable of veterans in St. Louis, where the goal this year is a second straight NL Central win and an NL pennant.

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Jordan Walker stats

Walker was scorching hot to open spring training, hitting .452 through March 10 with an OPS of 1.291.

Walker tapered off after injuring his shoulder in March, and hit a bit of an early drought. His final spring training stats ended up slightly more pedestrian, but the Cardinals and Oliver Marmol were more than impressed with his start.

PA H BB SO AVG OBP SLG HR RBI
67 18 2 15 .277 .299 .492 3 9

"We can talk about tools all day, but those don't play if you can't handle some pressure," Marmol said of Walker, per MLB.com. "This is not the degree of the pressure that he'll experience at the big league level, but it's still an example of the most he's had to [deal with] around the big league club. So, you're just keeping an eye on that and seeing how he responds, and I feel like he did that well."

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What number is Jordan Walker?

Walker is going to wear No. 18 for the Cardinals, a number he's familiar with.

“I wore 18 in travel ball a lot when I was younger,” he said, per MLB.com. “I wore 22 last year, and honestly, I don’t care about my number. … When I saw 18, it just kind of called out to me. I wore it before, and it seemed to be an epiphany for me.”

Jordan Walker Rookie of the Year odds

Despite his youth, Walker is getting strong odds to win NL Rookie of the Year.

As of Monday, he's listed at +400 per BetMGM, tied with the Diamondbacks' Corbin Carroll at the top of NL rookies. 

Player Odds
Corbin Carroll (OF, ARI) +400
Jordan Walker (OF, STL) +400
Miguel Vargas (2B, LAD) +700
Kodai Senga (P, NYM) +800
Ezequiel Tovar (SS, COL) +900

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Can Walker overcome the age difference early enough to secure that win? Only time will tell. Carroll got a solid look at MLB pitching last season, so he's ahead of Walker in that sense. But Walker may just be gifted enough to make an immediate impact for a possible playoff team.

Kevin Skiver

Kevin Skiver Photo

Kevin Skiver has been a content producer at Sporting News since 2021. He previously worked at CBS Sports as a trending topics writer, and now writes various pieces on MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and college sports. He enjoys hiking and eating, not necessarily in that order.