Here’s what I think happened with Jordan Walker. Everyone told you Killers of the Flower Moon was the best Scorsese film, and you were like, “I’m going to watch Killers of the Flower Moon, then go into the parking lot and divorce my wife, leaving her for Killers of the Flower Moon, but first I’m going to watch it,” then you watched it, and, afterwards, you were like, “Well, it was good, but my wife is like Goodfellas. She’s even Raging Bull on occasion. Honestly, she’s The Departed, and Killers of the Flower Moon is barely Casino.” So, you ended up not divorcing your wife to marry a movie you just met and you went home, back to the uze. Expectations are a helluva drug. It’s not just like that with movies, TV, music or what-have-you. Expectations for Jordan Walker last year were ridiculous. I played a role in that, naturally. But let’s prorate out his rookie year: 65/22/65/.275/10. That’s not taking a three-homer week and extrapolating out to 70 homers either. He had a 16/7/.276 year in 420 ABs. That’s just giving him an extra 100 at-bats from the 7-hole. That’s really not bad for a rookie! Your expectations were that he was going to be Aaron Judge in his rookie year, and that’s fair, but he was not bad. He doesn’t even turn 22 years old until next May. This is a 21-year-old’s numbers in the majors his rookie year? Yeah, I regret to inform you, I’m going to be raising expectations one more year. So, what can we expect from Jordan Walker for 2024 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
PSYCHE! I’ve begun to roll out my 2024 fantasy baseball rankings on the Patreon. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out next month. Anyway II, the Jordan Walker sleeper:
Jordan Walker is a 50-homer hitter. I have no idea when it’ll happen. Like I said Matt Olson was a 50-homer hitter years ago, that’s what is going on here. Jordan Walker could hit 60 homers some day. I say that about, literally, three people: Yordan, Olson and Judge. Jordan Walker will be in that company one day. Of course, he needs to hit 20 first. Then 30. Then 40. Then–you get the picture. Jordan Walker’s power is unreal. As we see with Giancarlo, the younger a big power guy is, the better off you. You may not want Jordan Walker when he turns 30, but we’re almost a decade away from that. For those who haven’t seen (though, where you been?):
WALLOPED BY JORDAN WALKER! pic.twitter.com/ie2ykUzA0k
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 10, 2023
That, from a guy who had a 17-game hitting streak his rookie year. That coming from a guy who had 12-game hitting streak to start his career. Not seen by someone 20 years old or younger in a long time. I don’t say this lightly, but Jordan Walker will be a top 20 overall guy at some point. My God, I love him. I’m going to love him every year for a dozen years. I wonder if we can be BFFs. Seriously, sit with what this all means: A guy who can hit for massive power, who had a hitting streak of 17 games and 12 games in his rookie year, at 20 years of age. I want to enshrine him in Cooperstown right now. Can we make that happen? He feels like a guy who can snap his fingers and have a 100/40/110/.280/10 season at 22. I’m sorry, I just fainted. What was happening? I was writing what? 100/40/110/.280/10 at 22 years of age? Oh, boy, I’m going to faint again.
The only thing stopping Walker (those tennis balls) is when will it come together? I don’t know. His price in drafts is still inexpensive enough that I think he’s a sleeper. Anything after pick 75 overall is a steal. Will he click this year? No idea, but it’s worth the pick to find out. You don’t want to be left holding the bag, and the bag being in this case a paper bag that you have to put over your head in embarassment for not having Walker when he breaks out. For 2024 fantasy, I’ll give Jordan Walker projections of 72/25/81/.263/10 in 531 ABs with a chance for a lot more.
