Christian Walker was bought low and can now be sold high. What specific skill set would he bring to another club? What would the ripple effect be to the Diamondback's roster? Would they consider trading him in the division, even if it was a great fit for a division rival?
The Arizona Diamondbacks got Christian Walker for nothing. A 2017 waiver claim was how he became an Arizona Diamondback. But his career in baseball started long before that. He has become a home run hitting, big slugging, first baseman whose value will never be higher. This could mean it is time to sell.
Christian's career actually started back on June 9th, 2009, when he was selected in the 49th round of that year's draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he did not sign. He was then selected again in another amateur draft, this time the 2012 draft, in the 4th round by the Baltimore Orioles. He signed on July 6th of that year. On February 25th, 2017, he was selected by the Atlanta Braves off waivers from Baltimore. Atlanta then put him on waivers, and he was once again selected by the Cincinnati Reds on March 6th, 2017. Less than a month later, the Diamondbacks selected him off waivers and he has become a productive player for the snakes at first base.
He is a mistake pitch hitter, and usually, when he hits them, they do not come back. The average major league hitter has a home run rate of 3.0%. Walker's is more than double that at 6.2% for the season so far. As far as hard-hit % the average major leaguer is 38.7% this season Christians are at 47.5%. His batting average is only .207 but of his 44 hits, 36 of them have gone for extra bases. With 18 home runs. I think there are several teams out there who will live with .207 if the rest of his numbers stay true.
There is an even bigger bonus in my opinion with trading Christian Walker. The ripple effect it will cause. I believe we are doing Pavin Smith a disservice by playing him in right field. To his credit, he is putting in the work and has never complained, but his natural position is first base. I also believe after a couple of weeks at first base his bat would be a little more consistent. When Pavin moves to first base it also opens up another spot in the outfield. If you look at the current 40-man roster, 10 of the players are outfielders, even if one of them, Cooper Hummel, was just sent down. The Diamondbacks have a ton of young outfield depth, and trading Walker would open up another spot. So, if you follow me here on Venom Strikes, you know that I have proposed trading Carson Kelly, putting Dalton Varsho permanently behind the plate with Jose Herrera his back-up. In a perfect world, Thomas would be my center fielder and he would be flanked by McCarthy and Hager with Luplow as my fourth outfielder.
Now, we have to come up with a few destinations for Christian Walker if we are going to talk about trading him. First, the Yankees could use a right-handed power bat to go along with the left-handed Anthony Rizzo at first base. Read the 5 men trade I proposed with the Yankees here. The Angels could use a right-handed complement to lefty first baseman Jared Walsh. Seventeen of the Angels' top 30 prospects are pitchers, I have a fondness for Janson Junk. Being a pitcher with the name Junk is priceless. And of course, he just mashes in Dodger Stadium and Freddy Freeman is left-handed as well as Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger. Walker would be a perfect complement, but would the Dbacks trade with the hated Dodgers?