Jordan Walker became the first Cardinals player with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the same season since Tommy Pham did it in 2017. Walker, 24, sees 20/20 as just a starting point, and he hopes to threaten 30/30 in the 2027 season.
Whereas some saw Jordan Walker hitting the 20-home run, 20-stolen base plateau as him arriving at a destination following a four-season journey, the St. Louis Cardinals' blossoming outfielder instead pronounced the landmark to be a steppingstone to bigger and better things to come.
As in, say, 30 homers and 30 stolen bases – something no other Cardinals player has ever done in the same season – in 2027?
“I mean, that’s a goal for me at some point,” Walker said confidently, pointing out that the feat might still be possible over the remainder of the 2026 season with the Cardinals still having nine games remaining. “If I don’t get it this time, I’ll go for it next time. But that’s something I definitely want to do at some point, for sure.”
Seven MLB players got to 30/30 in 2025, and only one – Cubs MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong with 44 homers and 37 stolen bases – has accomplished that feat in 2026.
When Walker swiped second base without a throw in the Cardinals’ 6-5 loss to the Giants in 10 innings on Wednesday, it gave him 20 stolen bases to go with his 28 homers – both career highs in four MLB seasons. Walker, 24, became the first Cardinals player to be seeing 20/20 since Tommy Pham did it in 2017 with 23 homers and 25 stolen bases.
With a strong finish – starting with Friday’s home game against the Nationals at Busch Stadium – Walker could become the first Cardinal to threaten 30/30 since Ray Lankford’s 31-homer, 26-steal season in 1998. Of course, that was the fifth time the Cardinals’ Hall of Famer reached 20/20, doing it in 1992 (20 homers/42 steals), 1995 (25/24), 1996 (21/35), 1997 (31/21) and 1998 (31/26).
In between Lankford’s stellar showcase of power and speed and what Walker has flashed in a breakout 2026 season, there have been three others get to 20/20. Fernando Tatis Sr. did it in 1999 with 34 homers and 21 steals, while Reggie Sanders hit 22 homers and stole 21 bases in 2004 and Pham’s feat came in 2017.
Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol, who has looked on as Walker struggled in the first three years of his career before finally looking like a superstar in 2025, said the 20/20 feat is a nod to the overall improvement Walker has made in his game.
“It speaks a lot to the amount of work that he’s put into every area of his game,” said Marmol, whose Cardinals close out the home portion of their schedule this weekend against the Nats before facing the Pirates and Brewers to end the season. “We’ve talked a lot about his offense and what (2025) looked like compared to (2026) and we’ve touched on what his defense looked like two years ago compared to now and the plays he’s able to make and the confidence he is playing right field with now. But another area (for improvement) was this guy has some pretty good top end speed, and he utilizes it when taking a bag or going from first to third. So, 20/20 is impressive.”
Prior to 2026, Walker had never stolen more than 10 bases and that was largely because his batting average and on-base percentage numbers hovered in low levels. This season, by hitting .278 and posting a .336 on-base percentage, Walker has stolen 20 bases in 25 tries.
Even more impressively, the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Walker has an average sprint speed of 29.1 feet per second – good for MLB’s top 92nd percentile, per Baseball Savant. His overall Baserunning Run Value is a plus-2, good for MLB’s top 86th percentile.
“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.”
