ST. LOUIS — Almost three years ago, Jordan Walker experienced the thrill of being drafted, of achieving a dream. At a draft party with only his immediate family members – COVID-19 having forced everyone to limit their gatherings to only a select few people – everyone rejoiced.
“All I can say is it’s a really good feeling,” Walker said. “I remember just smiling a lot. … It was a lot of hugs, a lot of phone calls. It was just truly a great feeling that I’d been waiting all my life to feel. You can’t really have a moment like it, for sure.”
As he recalls this, Walker, a Decatur High School alum, is standing in the Cardinals’ clubhouse at Busch Stadium. Across the room is superstar first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. On the other end is superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado. At age 20, with a birthday May 22, Walker is the youngest player in MLB.
Days ago, the public address announcer in St. Louis announced Walker’s name on opening day. He ran out to line up for the national anthem.
What went through his mind?
“Really, it was just two words: I’m here,” Walker, who grew up a Braves fan, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s been my dream to play in the big leagues ever since I was little, so this is finally my opportunity, and I’m gonna do everything I can to make the most of it.”
Walker is playing his hometown team this week. He said he hasn’t followed the Braves much since he was drafted. But Walker grew up idolizing Hall of Famer Chipper Jones. The two share a position, and Walker hopes to hit for as much power as Jones did. Walker already has collected his first hit, RBI and stolen base of his career.
Walker, drafted in the first round (No. 21 overall) by St. Louis, features incredible power. A Stone Mountain native, Walker probably was the best third baseman in his draft class. He needed only two seasons of professional baseball before the Cardinals decided that he belonged on the opening-day roster.
But he is not yet of drinking age. While his friends entered college, he went into the Cardinals’ system. They were away from home at class and taking part in social events. He was taking long bus rides to small cities on a tour through the minors.
Everyone gets homesick – yes, even a young baseball phenom.
The homesickness first hit Walker during his time with High-A Peoria in 2021, his first full professional season. “I just miss my family a little bit, miss my friends for sure,” he remembers thinking.
“You just have to deal with it sometimes,” Walker said.
This is why Walker tried to keep pieces of home in his heart (or stomach). He often calls his family – parents, siblings and grandparents. He’ll play video games with his friends. And he used to frequent Popeyes, a favorite for Walker, his brother and their father.
Walker is living the dream. This is everything he’s ever wanted.
Nowadays, he shares a clubhouse with Goldschmidt, the reigning National League MVP, and Arenado, who finished third in MVP voting last year. There are tons of lessons to be taken from those two.
“It doesn’t really matter what type of day they have. They go about everything the same exact way,” Walker said. “The discipline they have is really, really impressive. And that’s something that I want to take to my game. So just watching them and then learning from them, I hope that can help me make me a better player for sure.”
Walker began the 2021 season at Low-A and ended at High-A. He spent all of 2022 at Double-A.
The Cardinals apparently saw enough after Walker hit .306 with an .898 OPS over 119 games last season. He hit 31 doubles, three triples and 19 homers over 461 at-bats. He drove in 68 runs.
Then he skipped Triple-A.
“Obviously, you don’t become a talented guy like that for no reason,” said Braves first baseman Matt Olson, a Parkview High graduate. “Dripping with talent and seems like a really nice, humble, quiet kid, too.”
Now, Walker is helping bring more attention to Atlanta and its surrounding areas.
“I think it’s huge,” said Braves outfielder Michael Harris II, who attended Stockbridge High. “I say all the time, I feel like we have a lot of hidden talent there. There’s a lot more guys that if they get the opportunity, they’ll show out just like he will.”
Funny enough, Harris and Walker never met before this week’s series in St. Louis. Harris graduated high school a year earlier than Walker, and the two never played against each other in high school or travel ball. “Somehow, someway, we never crossed paths,” Harris said.
But this?
Two metro Atlanta kids sharing a big stage?
This will do.
“I thought I would play him at some point (earlier), but I feel like it’s better (for it) to be here than anywhere else,” Harris said.
(Of Harris, Walker said: “He went to school not too far from me, and I know he’s a superstar athlete.”)
Walker, who is Black, said it “means a lot” to provide hope for younger baseball players who hope to follow in his footsteps. “Black baseball players, there’s a lot of kids actually in the area that I know, they’re good at baseball but don’t get the opportunities,” Walker said.
The main reason: Baseball can be really, really expensive, and not everyone can afford it, no matter their race or ethnicity.
“It’s just a tough sport, man. You got to have a little help to play this sport,” he said. “From my vantage point, and someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but from my vantage point, it just seems like you gotta have more than great talent to be in the game when you’re at a younger level. You’re not gonna be able to get into the tournaments. You can’t play if you can’t get into tournaments.
“I know that tournaments are really expensive. So that’s all I’m gonna say about it. It’s really tough to play when you can’t get into the tournaments where you can be seen.”
When he made the opening-day roster, Walker thought about the sacrifices made by his parents and grandparents. His parents always took him to practice or private lessons. His grandfather, he said, also helped out by doing anything his parents couldn’t do. Along the way, Walker’s grandmothers and siblings supported him.
Walker is taking only the first few steps of what will hopefully be a long and successful career.
If kids who wanted to be in his spot asked for advice, he would tell them this:
“Just don’t rush anything. Baseball, this game can get really fast. I’m actually glad a lot of my teammates around me, they are telling me, ‘Don’t let it speed up, calm down, take deep breaths and everything.
“The thing I would tell them is just don’t rush anything. Things will come. Don’t do too much. Enjoy the game while you can because I think so many kids overlook the travel ball and the high school games as not just being (for) fun, but (thinking) ‘I need to get into a college, I need to get drafted.’ Just enjoy the game. I feel like if you have fun with the game, your skills will show, and then you will achieve the goals that you want to achieve.”
