Cardinals reportedly calling up No. 1 prospect Jordan Walker for second MLB stint

Jordan Walker is headed back to the big leagues. We'll see if this time he's there to stay.

The St. Louis Cardinals are calling up the No. 1 overall prospect on MLB Pipeline and will have him on their active roster for Friday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, according to Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat.

Walker is ranked No. 2 nationally by Baseball America, behind only Jackson Chourio of the Milwaukee Brewers.

This will be Walker's second stint with the Cardinals, as he made the team's Opening Day roster this season before being sent down in late April. Walker held his own at the plate, hitting .274/.321/.397 with two homers and 11 RBI in 78 plate appearances, but he struggled on defense as an outfielder.

Did Walker improve while back in the minor leagues?

Walker is nominally a third baseman by trade, but the presence of Cardinals All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado pushed him into the outfield, where the advanced fielding metrics overall weren't kind to him. Statcast's OAA had him at two runs below average in 42 attempts (read: not good), while Defensive Runs Saved had him at -6, though at least he was error-free.

Those issues were part of the reason the Cardinals sent Walker down. Another was a 58.5% groundball rate on Baseball Savant, which was getting in the way of the 21-year-old's considerable power.

Walker struggled somewhat in his time in Triple-A, hitting .239/.348/.398 with 32 strikeouts in 132 plate appearances, though he seems to have turned a corner lately, and the Cardinals apparently wanted to take another look at him in the majors.

While he has had some problems in the short term, there remains plenty to be excited in the long term. Scouting reports say the 6-foot-6, 245-pound Walker has rare bat-to-ball skills for a player his size, along with his power and an elite arm. If he develops as the Cardinals hope, he'll be a middle-of-the-order bat alongside Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt for years to come.