Cardinals' star slugger Jordan Walker has registered career highs in most every major statistical category in a breakout 2026 season, but he has still found himself in a late-season slump. However, the Cardinals like how he's kept his focus on working through the struggles.
Arguably MLB’s best comeback story most of 2026 with how he went from struggling mightily over his first three seasons to the zenith of being an All-Star and a Home Run Derby champion, St. Louis Cardinals breakout star Jordan Walker has seen his fortunes turn in recent weeks with some late-season struggles.
The difference this time around, Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol stressed, is the response by the 24-year-old Walker.
Already, Walker has set career highs in homers (28), doubles (33), RBI (100), hits (161), games (151) and stolen bases (20) and he recently moved into the exclusive 20-homer, 20-steals club.
All that production seems to be taking a toll on Walker, who came into Sunday hitting just .194 with 27 strikeouts in his last 16 games. He lost out on a homer on Saturday night when Washington center fielder Dylan Crews robbed him at the center field wall, and he’s been 16 games without a long ball and he has only one RBI in that same stretch.
Walker’s frustrations seemed to boil over on Saturday night in the Cardinals’ 8-5 loss to the Nationals in 11 innings. Not only did Walker go 0 for 6 and see his 112.1 mph potential homer, but he whiffed four times – the final two times coming in the ninth and 11th innings when the bases were loaded.
“He’s handling it well and I like emotionally where he’s at,” Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol said before Sunday’s final game of the season at Busch Stadium. “There’s frustration, but he’s learning how to channel that into the work and not doom and gloom type of stuff.”
After becoming the first Cardinals player to reach the 20/20 plateau since Tommy Pham in 2017, Walker suggested that he still sees plenty of room for growth in the 2027 season. He noted how he has better handled the highs and lows of a long season and responded to any struggles by pouring himself into his work with hitting coaches Brant Brown, Brandon Allen and Casey Chenoweth and outfield coach Jon Jay.
Walker said he has learned that even when he isn’t feeling his best at the plate, he can still contribute to winning in other ways. One is how he has run the bases this season, namely his 20 stolen bases in 25 tries.
“After last year, I really wanted to improve stolen base-wise and I thought I could get more bags than I did,” said Walker, who became a first-time All-Star in 2026 and electrified the baseball world by rallying to win the Home Run Derby. “So, working on that and then getting to 20 (stolen bases), that’s pretty cool for me.
“But I have some more goals for myself when it comes to that area. But definitely this is a nice steppingstone, for sure.”
Areas of concern for Walker are his chase rate (35.8 percent), whiff rate (32 percent) and strikeout rate (25.9 percent) starting to creep up again. During his ninth inning at bat against Yovanny Cruz, he saw two sliders on the outer half to end the at bat. In the 11th inning, Riley Cornelio started Walker with a cutter and then fed him sliders on four of the last five pitches. Those are pitches Walker learned to lay off of mostly this season, but some of his bad habits tend to creep back into his approach.
Marmol said some struggles late in the season might prove beneficial for the blossoming star.
“The stretch he’s going through – you hate to see it – but it’s a good thing for him,” Marmol said. “I don’t mind him going through a little bit of a funk after the success that he’s had because he will learn a lot from this. He’s handling it a lot better now.”
