St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker hopes each of the 12 balls that cleared the fences in Monday's dramatic Home Run Derby victory can be a launching pad for more Black kids to take up the game of baseball.
Walker hit six consecutive home runs in the final at Citizens Bank Park to edge hometown favorite Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies and win $1 million, which is more than his 2026 salary of $799,400.
While the personal accolades are nice, Walker, 24, said after the contest that he hopes that it inspires more Black kids to follow in his footsteps.
"I mean, I hope it means a lot to them. I want to be a role model for the Black kids, you know, and I want more Black kids in baseball," said Walker, who hit a total of 31 home runs on his 50 swings over three rounds. "Hopefully this raises some awareness.
"I know a lot of them are playing basketball, football route, but I want them to know the baseball route is open to them, too," Walker said. "And there are a lot of kids that are athletic enough and mentally strong enough -- Black kids that can play this game -- and I want to see them do it."
Making mom and dad proud. This moment Jordan's parents watched him win the Home Run Derby is everything 🥹@Cardinals pic.twitter.com/V4GVBdZOwl
— MLBPA (@MLBPA) July 14, 2026
For the first time in at least 20 years, the percentage of Black players on MLB active and inactive lists on Opening Day increased in back-to-back years, going from 6% in 2024 to 6.2% in 2025 and then to 6.8% this season. The year-over-year increase from 2025 to this season was MLB's largest since a 0.7% increase from 2017 to 2018.
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida issued annual studies that showed the percentage was 18% when its reports started in 1991.
"I really do believe we are making progress in terms of the participation of Black athletes, particularly at the elite level," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday. "... Look, this is one of those issues that you have to continue to invest, grind it out, do that kind of grassroots work to attract more people to the game and then nurture them in a way that gets them into this elite pipeline."
Manfred acknowledged that a player's chances to get to the major leagues "dramatically increase" as a first-round pick in the MLB draft. However, only six of the top 75 players selected in this year's draft -- encompassing the first two rounds and second-round compensation picks -- were Black.
"One of the things we're really focused on right now is to try to provide alternatives to sort of the pay-for-play elite play so that players who enter the system in that big funnel at the bottom -- who don't have the economics to afford to be in that elite pay-for-play -- have an opportunity to get discovered," Manfred said.
ESPN's Jorge Castillo and Kiley McDaniel contributed to this report.