As always, Jordan Walker would step to the plate at Busch Stadium on Tuesday and make the batter's box look small. The big man looms with menace and danger, bringing a colossal presence and the highest OPS+ in the National League to the plate.
That 172 OPS+ tells us that Walker was 72 percent above league average offensively. This put him above the next names on the NL leaders chart: Kyle Schwarber, Corbin Carroll and Matt Olson.
To say that Walker is having a remarkable season is like saying Stan Musial was a decent hitter, or that the sun is kind of bright. It’s like saying the Grand Canyon is a fairly large ditch, or that Victor Webanyama looks tall.
Walker had other gaudy numbers to go with that flashing jackpot slot machine look of his OPS+. There’s the classy .301 batting average, the enriched .371 on-base rate and a slammin’ .584 slugging percentage. There was a collection of gems that included 13 home runs, 34 RBIs, 34 runs scored, 101 total bases and the top wOBA (.411) by a National League hitter who bats from the right side.
You can’t see the MLB finish line on May 19. But it’s out there, and Walker and the Cardinals still had 71 percent of the 2026 regular-season schedule in front of them. Walker’s extravagant stats must largely hold up over the next 131 days before we can file a report and enter it into history as part of the official record.
However …
So far …
To this point …
What we’re watching may be the most amazing one-year leap of improvement by a Cardinal hitter in franchise history.
After I combined Walker’s previous two seasons, 2024-25, all that was left was a sickly and sad little 69 OPS+.
Let’s compare. Walker’s pregame 172 OPS+ on the afternoon of May 19 represents a 149.3% improvement in offensive production relative to the league average. Walker has scaled a giant mountain in a short time. From being 31% below average over the previous two years to 72% above average this season.
Come on, now.
Who does this?
Since the question was posed, and because I am a seamhead, I put in the research to the best of my ability.
What Jordan Walker is doing right now simply has no precedent in the modern history of your St. Louis Cardinals. The study was confined to qualifying hitters in the team’s regular lineup during the relevant seasons. Part-timers and role players were excluded. Age was no consideration.
Also, since I framed this as a dramatic one-year leap forward, I’ll use Walker’s 67 OPS+ from 2025. It’s cleaner and more consistent that way.
From last season to this season, Walker’s OPS+ has improved offensively (so far) by 156.7 percent. That’s preposterous! It’s statistically comical! We’re talking video game numbers. Maybe so. But Walker is trying to set a new standard for One Year Leaps in Cardinals history.
Here’s how the leaderboard looks right now for the largest increase in OPS+ from one season to the next.
JORDAN WALKER, 2025 to 2026
Ages: 23 and 24
67 OPS+ … to 172 OPS+
Increase of 105 points
Percentage of improvement: 156.7%
Comment: I’m still having a little bit of a hard time processing this, because Walker was so helpless over the previous two seasons. And when I watch him this year, I always think “Is this the same guy? How can that be?” Yes, it’s the same guy … but a much different hitter. The athleticism, elite bat speed and violently hard contact was always there. The smart swing decisions and necessary launch angle were not there. His career was being grounded by ground balls. Walker found his ideal attack angle this season, and he’s soaring across the sky.
TYLER O’NEILL, 2020 to 2021
Ages 25 and 26
70+ OPS+ … to 150 OPS+
Increase of 80 points
Percentage of improvement: 114.3%
Comment: Geez, what the heck is he doing here? Because 2020 was a severely shortened season, because of the Covid 19 pandemic. So that shouldn’t count in a two-year sample size for our comparison. You can exclude T.O. on those grounds, but at the very least I wanted to mention it. But if you want to scratch him from the lineup that’s fine with me. I mean, wasn’t that O’Neill’s career here? Frequently and inexplicably scratched from the lineup for one reason or another, or because he had a little ouchy.
ALBERT PUJOLS, 2021 to 2022
Ages 41 and 42
89 OPS+ … to 151 OPS+
Increase of 62 points
Percentage of improvement: 69.7%
Comment: Pujols was an Angel and (mostly) a Dodger in 2021 before returning home to the Cardinals in 2022. But there’s no need to be too fussy here; Pujols belongs because he will ALWAYS be a Cardinal and his stirring offensive revival in that 2022 Farewell Season was one of the greatest and emotion-powered spectacles I’ve ever seen.
STAN MUSIAL, 1947 to 1948
Ages: 26 and 27
133 OPS+ … to 200 OPS+
Increase of 67 points
Percentage of improvement: 50.4%
Comment: How great was The Man? His “low point” 1947 in OPS+ before the big-leap in forward in the 1948 season was still freakin’ 33% above league average offensively. Beautiful. That’s Stan. It was a privilege to get to know him and to spend some time hanging out.
LANCE BERKMAN, 2010 to 2011
Ages 34 and 35
112 OPS+ … to 164 OPS+
Increase of 52 points.
Percentage of increase 46.4 percent
Comment: I loved Lance Berkman as a Cardinal, and he played a substantial role during STL’s 2011 World Series-winning season (31 homers, 94 RBIs.) One of John Mozeliak’s best moves was signing the Big Puma to a buy-low, high-upside contract after his injury-troubled 2010 season.
ROGERS HORNSBY, 1919 to 1920
Ages: 23 and 24
139 OPS+ … to 198 OPS+
Increase of 59 points
Percentage of improvement: 42.4%
Comment: Can you imagine being a ballplayer, and having a season that put you 39 percent above league average on offense, and you go home for the winter, maybe thinking that you had a down year, and had to make up for the embarrassment by putting up monster numbers in the following season? I don’t know if the young Hornsby was like that. But having read a lot about him he probably was.
NEXT: BONUS BREAKOUT MATERIAL!
Here are some pertinent examples of major-breakout seasons by notable MLB hitters who were around Walker’s current age when they figured it all out and turned into something special.
1. Mike Schmidt: A heralded 22-year old prospect who looked lost and overmatched early on. The Philly fanbase grilled him like a cheesesteak. He batted .206 in a brief, late-season call-up in 1972. Schmidt was horrendous in 1973 at age 23, batting .196, striking out 136 times, and generating a horrible 72 OPS+. Couldn’t hit a breaking ball. Bust! But the future Hall of Famer found it in 1974 at age 24 with 36 homers, a 129 OPS+ and a massive 7.6 WAR. Schmidt’s early MLB career looks a lot like Walker’s 2024 and 2025 campaigns – though before that Walker did have a solid rookie season in 2023.
2. Carlos Delgado: In 1994 at age 22, Delgado walloped eight homers in his first month in the big leagues – then crashed. He finished the season with a .215 average and an 87 OPS+ and was returned to the minors. Complicating matters was Delgado’s extra-large size and struggle to find a defensive home. (Catcher to outfield to first base.) His age 23 season was another failure, with Delgado batting .165 for the Blue Jays before getting demoted again. But alas, everything clicked for Delgado in 1996 at age 24; he crushed 25 homers and had a 112 OPS+ and his career was finally on track.
3. Matt Williams: A big corner infielder who was tormented by big-league pitchers in his early 20s. Had a 61 OPS+ in 1988 at age 22. A year later, he hit .202 and put up a 68 OPS. The Giants loved his third-base defense but were flummoxed by the constant swing and miss problems. But this malfunctioning hitter – a strikeout machine – finally had a bust-out year in 1990 at age 24. His season included 33 homers, an NL-leading 122 RBIs and a 123 OPS+. Played 17 MLB seasons and ended his career with 378 homers, a .489 slug and 113 OPS+.
So what did these three fellows have in common with Jordan Walker? The raw power and talent was there in abundance but couldn’t surface because of terrible plate discipline, poor swing decisions, a struggle making contact and swing paths that required major adjustments.
But these three guys didn’t quit, didn’t lose all confidence, kept working and found the necessary solutions to set their talent free. Just as we’re seeing with Jordan Walker in 2026.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.