Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers are wrapping up their three-game series with the rubber game at American Family Field (GameTracker). The Cardinals won Saturday night's game thanks in part to Nolan Arenado's 300th career home run. He is eighth among active players in homers and 153rd on the all-time list.
In the fourth inning Sunday, Cardinals rookie Jordan Walker shot an RBI single back up the middle against Freddy Peralta, extending his hitting streak to nine games and putting him in auspicious company. Here is Sunday's knock:
The 20-year-old Walker has hit safely in all nine games he's played this season. Only two other players in history have started their careers with hitting streaks that long at age 20 or younger. Here's the list:
Eddie Murphy, 1912 Philadelphia Athletics: 12 gamesJordan Walker, 2023 St. Louis Cardinals: 9 games and countingTed Williams, 1939 Boston Red Sox: 9 gamesFred Hutchison, 1939 Detroit Tigers: 8 gamesWalker will look to join Murphy as the only players age 20 or younger to begin their careers with a 10-game hitting streak when the Cardinals face Colorado Rockies and Germán Márquez on Monday. Walker has not yet faced Márquez in his young career.
The longest hitting streak to begin a career at any age is 17 games, a record shared by Chuck Aleno of the 1941 Cincinnati Reds and David Dahl of the 2016 Colorado Rockies.
Walker entered the season as CBS Sports' No. 6 prospect in baseball after authoring a .306/.388/.510 batting line with 19 home runs in Double-A last season. Walker performed so well in spring training that the Cardinals skipped him right over Triple-A and put him on their Opening Day roster. A natural third baseman, he's moved to right field in deference to Arenado.
