Redbirds' Walker, Winn take flight in tandem

The Triple-A Memphis Redbirds delivered a 1-2 punch to the Omaha Storm Chasers Wednesday night, with the top two Cardinals prospects each going yard.

Jordan Walker, the top prospect in baseball, and MLB No. 38 Masyn Winn hit their fourth and six homers, respectively, at the level on the season. The two have moved up the ranks together since making up two key parts of the club's 2020 Draft class, but Wednesday marked just the second game where they both hit it out of the park.

Winn got things going for Memphis in the top of the third. Knotted at 1-1, Winn hammered a high cutter from Austin Cox to give his team the lead with a solo shot.

Walker wasn’t fooled by Cox’s breaking ball, either. On first pitch of the sixth inning, he launched a curveball onto the left-field concourse. The ball was shot with a whopping 109.4 mph exit velocity to carry it for 430 feet.

Walker’s dinger worked wonders for the Redbirds' dugout. It was the first of six unanswered runs, which allowed Memphis to cruise to a 9-4 victory.

Circumstance bound Walker and Winn together. They were St. Louis’ first and second-round picks in the 2020 Draft, respectively, having moved through the Cardinals’ farm system together.

Both starting in Single-A Palm Beach, Walker was promoted to High-A Peoria in June 2021 and played the full 2022 season with Double-A Springfield. Winn made his High-A debut in July 2021 and advanced to Double-A ball in May 2022. Walker made an impact during the spring and made the jump straight to the Majors to start this season, later being sent down to Triple-A on April 27, while Winn -- who has made a push for St. Louis in his own right -- has spent the whole year in Memphis.

Despite playing over two years together, this is just the second game where both Walker and Winn went yard. The last time it happened was Aug. 10, 2022, in Amarillo, where Springfield went on to win, 21-4.