The question has been front of mind for St. Louis Cardinals fans during the last few months.
What’s Jordan Walker, the former No. 1 prospect in baseball, doing in Memphis with the Triple-A Redbirds?
The answer is complicated. But it starts with a chessboard in Norfolk, Virginia.
Norfolk is where Walker and his Redbirds teammate, Thomas Saggese, found a chessboard in the clubhouse during a series against the Norfolk Tides. They decided to play, and Saggese won easily.
“The first game, I wiped the floor with him,” Saggese said. “He was leaving openings everywhere.”
Then Walker turned it on. Saggese hasn’t won again over the ensuing week, and the official score stood at 1-11-2 in favor of Walker as of Thursday. His baseball performances might not be quite at that level, but he’s started to hit the ball better, too. He went 3-for-4 with a home run and had an outfield assist in Thursday’s win over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. In 43 games with Memphis, he’s batting .263 with three home runs, 11 doubles and 15 RBIs.
“I keep reminding myself that baseball’s going to have ups and downs, good and bad,” Walker said. “So when things are going bad, I have to remind myself to relax. Because if I’m not relaxed and I’m going bad, I’m going to keep getting worse.”
Walker was demoted to Memphis after a rough start to the 2024 season, even after he began it as the Cardinals’ starting right fielder. He spent most of 2023 with the major league club and had a successful rookie season, but he was hitting only .155 before getting sent down.
Since then, he’s been trying to relax. He’s been in Memphis for about two months now, and — though the Cardinals have been playing better as of late — fans are still ready to see him back in the majors.
“He’s had some flashes of what he wants to be. He just hasn’t sustained it for a long time. The guy hits the ball hard very frequently,” Redbirds hitting coach Howie Clark said. “Not just Jordan, but everyone here wants results. And if you’re looking for results, it’s like they run away from you.”
