Cardinals’ Jordan Walker ‘running on enthusiasm’ after late night airport snafu

St. Louis Cardinals top prospect Jordan Walker dealt with airline delays and a lost bat bag at the airport ahead of his first game back with the team.

The St. Louis Cardinals were dealt an injury in their outfield, as Lars Nootbaar suffered a lower back contusion that landed him on the 10-day injured list. With that, they called up top prospect Jordan Walker from Triple-A Memphis. Walker got off to a strong start after making the Opening Day roster but was demoted on Apr. 26 after a slump. By being called up, Walker was placed on the active roster for the team’s road game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.

Ahead of the game, Walker spoke with Bally Sports Midwest reporter Alexa Datt and detailed how he didn’t arrive at the team’s hotel until about 3:15 a.m. Friday due to airline delays and that his bat bag was lost. But Walker said, despite the lack of sleep, he was “running on enthusiasm.”

The video comes courtesy of Bally Sports Midwest.

Jordan Walker lost his bat bag at the airport morning of his return to Cardinals

Walker was excited to make his return to the majors and mentions in the interview with Datt that the first person he told that was his father, who he said “was the happiest” for him.

Speaking of the road game against the Pirates, Walker recorded a hit in his return, a single in the top of the fourth inning. It wasn’t just any single. It was a 110.9 mph single that bounced off the glove of Pirates shortstop Tucupita Marcano.

This was Walker’s lone hit of the game, as he went 1-for-5 at the plate with one strikeout in St. Louis’ 7-5 loss.

As mentioned earlier, Walker made the Opening Day roster out of spring training. To start the year, Walker recorded a hit in each of his first 12 games, which tied the record for the longest hitting streak to start a career by a player 20 or younger. The other player to do so was Eddie Murphy of the 1912 Philadelphia Athletics.

But, as mentioned, Walker went 5-for-26 in his next seven games. That is when the team opted to send him back down to Triple-A.

Walker recorded a .239 batting average, a .348 on-base percentage, a .398 slugging percentage, four home runs, 14 runs scored, 16 RBI, and 27 hits in 29 games.

Despite a delay at the airport to find his bat bag, Walker is back with the Cardinals.