If you watch even a lick of Diamondbacks baseball, you know that both 1B Christian Walker and SP Zac Gallen are some of the best of the best in their respective roles. Both players had a break-out season in 2022, and they continue to add to their impressive resume to begin the 2023 season.
There is no denying it, both Walker and Gallen got off to slow starts to begin the 2023 season. Gallen gave up 9 earned runs in his first two starts and Walker started off the year 7-37 (.189) through his first 10 games.
But thankfully, the past is in the past, and now in the present, Gallen and Walker are equally on fire. Arizona has impressively, won 20 games, and a huge reason for that is this dynamic duo.
Diamondbacks Christian Walker can’t be stopped
Walker is having a season to remember. Arizona’s cleanup man is leading this offense that currently ranks 7th in the league in runs per game. No surprise, Christian is getting the job done with power.
It’s not easy to find a better hitter in baseball than Walker over the last few weeks. In the last 15 days, Walker is 1st in the league in home runs (1st in at-bats per home run) and OPS. He is also 2nd in RBIs, and 2nd in batting average. Scott Hatteberg, picking machine, Christian Walker, hitting machine.
Overall on the season, Walker is 8th in the league in home runs and 9th in RBIs. He isn’t only a hitting machine, he is also a defensive extraordinaire. Last season, Walker was statistically the best fielding first basemen in the game (14 OAA), and the same remains true so far in 2023 (5 OAA).
Diamondbacks Zac Gallen is dominating the opposition
The way Gallen is pitching right now, it is almost unfair. Gallen isn’t just pitching well, he is making the opposition look silly. It’s as if he is playing MLB The Show and he turned the difficulty level to beginner.
In Gallen’s last 6 starts, he is 5-0 with a 0.92 ERA in 39 innings pitched. Wait what?! That can’t be right, can it?! Oh, wait, wow, that is right, good gracious!
In those 6 starts, he also struck out 54 batters (13.85 K/9) and only allowed 2 walks (0.51 BB/9). Do you see why I said it is almost unfair?
Overall on the season, Gallen is 3rd in the league in walks per 9 innings, 4th in WHIP, 5th in strikeouts per 9 innings, and 9th in ERA. He is on pace for his best season yet. Now please enjoy this video of Gallen’s absolutely filthy knuckle curve.
Zac Gallen, Nasty 82mph Knuckle Curve. 😨 pic.twitter.com/hONAoTIiHE
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 3, 2023