Christian Walker

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Christian Dickson Walker

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Biographical Information[edit]

Christian Walker was twice a member of the winning team in the College World Series but took a very long time to become a major league regular.

Walker hit .588 as a high school senior. The Los Angeles Dodgers picked him in the 49th round of the 2009 amateur draft, two picks after Burch Smith. He went on to college instead of signing, deciding to attend the University of South Carolina. As a freshman, he batted .327/.384/.518 with 9 home runs and 51 RBI in 61 games in 2010. He stepped it up in the 2010 College World Series, hitting .414/.469/.621 with 5 RBI and two home runs in seven games, leading South Carolina in average and slugging. He homered off Casey Harman then singled in the go-ahead run in a must-win 4-3 victory over Clemson in the semifinal. He was 4 for 9 in the two 2-1 wins over UCLA in the championship round. Walker wound up as the All-Tournament 1B for the Series, which South Carolina won.

As a sophomore, Walker did better at the plate (.358/.438/.554, 21 2B, 64 R, 62 RBI in 69 G). He was among the Southeastern Conference leaders in doubles (tied for 5th), RBI (3rd behind Preston Tucker and Mike Zunino), runs (2nd to Zunino), hits (97, 2nd, one behind Zunino), home runs (10, tied for 5th) and total bases (150, 4th). He lost out All-SEC honors at 1B to Aaron Westlake. In the College World Series, he again shone, hitting .345/.400/.478 with four runs (though only 2 RBI) in five games despite a broken hamate bone in his left wrist. He was second on South Carolina in average, OBP and slugging and led in runs. In the final series, he was 4 for 9 against the University of Florida. With the first game of the finals tied at 1 in the 11th inning, he singled, stole second, took third on a Zunino error and scored on another error. He was again the All-Tournament pick at first base and South Carolina again won it all.

Christian produced at a .321/.450/.525 clip with 48 runs, 55 RBI, 11 home runs and 51 walks (against only 24 strikeouts) in 67 games as a junior in 2012. He then hit .381/.552/.429 in the 2012 College World Series, leading his team in OBP and average and again was All-Tournament at 1B. He was among the SEC leaders in slugging (8th), OBP (tied for 6th with Taylor Dugas), OPS (5th), runs (10th), hits (84, 7th), total bases (126, 6th), doubles (tied for 8th), home runs (7th), RBI (4th) and walks (1st). He made All-Conference first base. After the season, he was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 4th round of the 2012 amateur draft. Scouted by Chris Gale, he decided to sign with them on July 6th for $349,900, foregoing his senior season.

It took a while for Walker to get established as a major league regular. He played in the Orioles' organization until 2016, but only had two cups of coffee in the majors - 6 games in 2014 and another 7 in 2015. He hit under .200 both years, although given how few plate appearances he was given, not much should be read into that. The Orioles were a strong team at the time, making the postseason in 2014 and again in 2016, and that left few opportunities to give untested players a longer look. He was a very good player in the minors all that time, being named an organizational All-Star for four straight years from 2013 to 2016

He was placed on waivers after the 2016 season, which he spent entirely in the minors and went through a couple of organizations - the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds during spring training before being picked up by the Arizona Diamondbacks at the end of March 2017. He spent the bulk of that season in AAA with the Reno Aces but made the most of it, hitting .309 with 32 homers and 114 RBIs in 133 games to be named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Year. That got him another big league cup of coffee, when he hit .250 in 11 games. He did make the D-Backs' postseason roster, and got a hit in his only at-bat, which came as a pinch-hitter in Game 1 of the Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 6th (he was hit by a pitch in his only other plate appearance of the postseason). It seemed clear that he had little left to prove in the minors, but at 28 already, most people considered him solely as a AAAA Player, resulting in his starting 2018 back in AAA. He was very good once again, hitting .299 in 84 games with 17 homers and 71 RBIs, and in another brief opportunity to show what he could do in the majors, he hit just .163 in 37 games. Even if he had failed to hit in the majors thus far (his combined batting average was .170), he had still manage to flash some power, with 6 homers in 88 at-bats over his four stints.

He finally got a chance to play regularly in 2019, when he was the regular first baseman for Arizona and played 152 games, He put up some pretty good numbers, hitting .259 with 29 homers and 73 RBIs for an OPS+ of 111. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the season to 60 games, but he played 57 of them, and hit .271 with 7 homers and 34 RBIs for an OPS+ of 112. He fell back a bit in 2021, hitting .244 in 115 games, with 10 homers and 46 RBIs after injuries limited to just 19 games over the first two months of the year, during which he hit just .203. He did better after that rough start, but his OPS+ was only 88. The 2022 season marked his taking another step up at age 31 as he played 160 games, hit .242 but with 36 homers and 94 RBIs, bringing his OPS+ to 125, and also won a Gold Glove for his defensive play at first base. His 2023 season was just as productive as he won a Gold Glove again, put up an OPS+ of 124, thanks to 33 homers and 103 RBIs and a .258 batting average in 157 games. The Diamondbacks snuck into the postseason that year then got very hot, making it all the way to the World Series, which they lost to the Texas Rangers. Apart from an awful NLCS when he was just 2 for 22 in the seven-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies, he was a steady hitter, contributing 5 doubles, one homer, 7 runs and 7 RBIs to Arizona's offence. That year, for the first time, he received some down-ballot consideration in the MVP vote.

He was back starting at first base for Arizona in 2024 and made the news for a rare time when he hit five homers over three days while the D-Backs were the visitors at Dodger Stadium at the start of July. In his career thus far, he had been a model of steady but not flashy production, putting up solid numbers year after year but hardly ever calling attention to himself with flashy hot streaks or the like. In any case, it seemed that he had a particular fondness for the venerable ballpark, as he now had hit 19 long balls in 42 career games there, tying him with Paul Goldschmidt (ironically, his predecessor as Arizona's starting first baseman) for most among active visiting players. In fact, with a two-homer game in a 9-3 win over the Dodgers on July 4th, he had homered in his last five games at the ballpark and his OPS there was 1.184. He played 130 games that year and hit .251 with 26 homers and 84 RBIs, with an OPS+ of 121, in spite of missing a month with an oblique strain. He also won a third straight Gold Glove at first base and over the last three years, he had been an absolute model of consistency, with his OPS+ at 125, 122 and 121, a Gold Glove each year, and little variation in terms of runs, RBIs, homers, batting average, OBP and slugging percentage. 2024 turned out to be his final season with the D-Backs however. After 819 games with the Snakes, he became a free agent, and on December 20th it was announced that he had signed a three-year contract worth $60 million with the Houston Astros, a team with a huge hole at first base.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • 2017 Player of the Year Pacific Coast League Reno Aces
  • 3-time NL Gold Glove Winner (2022-2024)
  • 20-Home Run Seasons: 4 (2019 & 2022-2024)
  • 30-Home Run Seasons: 2 (2022 & 2023)
  • 100 RBIs Seasons: 1 (2023)

Further Reading[edit]

  • Thomas Harrigan and Kennedi Landry: "Free-agent 1B Walker, Astros agree to 3-year, $60M deal", mlb.com, December 20, 2024. [1]
  • Sarah Wexler: "'Unconscious' in LA: Walker in rare company with HRs: D-backs slugger 'speechless' after hitting 5 home runs in 3 days at Dodger Stadium", mlb.com, July 5, 2024. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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