Jordan Walker is in the midst of a breakout season for the St. Louis Cardinals.
The long-time top prospect had already reached apparent bust status, but he’s shattered through that narrative with a monster 2026 campaign when he finally looks like the hitter everyone hoped he could be.
He’s also on a historic streak, the kind that you might not think about but that is actually incredibly improbable.
Walker hit the 55th home run of his MLB career on Tuesday night, and amazingly, he has never hit two homers off the same pitcher.
That means that for 55 home runs in a row, Walker has gone deep off of a new arm.
It’s the second-longest streak to begin a career in MLB history, dating back to 1900, according to stats guru Sarah Langs.
The only longer streak was Willy Adames, who had 57 homers off of different pitchers to begin his MLB career — so Walker is in range to try and set a new record.
Jordan Walker launches his 28th homer of the season! pic.twitter.com/ccf0VrasDU
— MLB (@MLB) September 2, 2026
How Is This Possible?
Given that teams play divisional foes more than any other teams, it’s hard to picture that this is even possible.
For that matter, a two-homer game often features two blasts off the same pitcher, if the starter stays in the game long enough.
Walker is helped, though, by modern approaches to pitching.
Starters don’t go as deep into games. Bullpens use a whole parade of arms to get through games, and then players are shuttled back and forth from the minor leagues to keep everyone fresh.
Stats circulate all the time about how legends of yesteryear, like Babe Ruth, faced only a fraction of the pitchers in a given season to the number of different pitchers that hitters face these days.
It makes it that much more impressive, in a sense, because Walker doesn’t just have the number of a few pitchers. He’s figured out how to succeed against so many different guys.
Eventually, the list of pitchers that he hasn’t homered against gets shorter, and that’ll make it tough to keep the streak going for too much longer. But right now, it’s still alive.
Jordan Walker’s Breakout 2026 Season
Walker gained even more national attention when he won the Home Run Derby, but all year, he’s been special for St. Louis.
His homer on Tuesday was his 28th of the year. He’s played in 135 games and has also doubled 30 times, driven in 99 runs and stolen 18 bases.
Walker is batting .288 and has an .850 OPS.
He hit 16 homers as a rookie in 2023, but then it was just 11 combined in the next two campaigns as he spent a lot of time in the minor leagues.
Now, Walker has finally reached his potential, and he’s gotten the chance to make some history along the way.
And if you’re wondering: The Cardinals face the Dodgers‘ Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Wednesday. Walker has never faced him, so he’s never taken him deep — a chance at another new feat to keep the streak alive.
Cardinals’ Jordan Walker on Mind-Blowing 55-HR Streak