2012: Baltimore drafts Walker
Walker was a menace at the plate in college. In 136 games, he hit 21 HRs, 117 RBIs, and finished with a career .984 OPS. With the 132nd overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft, the Baltimore Orioles selected first basemen Christian Walker out of the University of South Carolina. The 2012 MLB draft was loaded with stars; Carlos Correa, Max Fried, Corey Seager, Matt Olson, and Josh Hader to name a few.
2012: Road to the majors begins
Walker started his minor league career with the Aberdeen IronBirds in 2012. In 22 games with the IronBirds, Walker hit 2 HRs, 9 RBIs, and recorded an OPS of .796. Fast forward a year and Walker was now playing for the Delmarva Shorebirds. In 31 games with the Shorebirds, Walker hit 3 HRs, 20 RBIs, and recorded an OPS of .894. His strong numbers at the plate got him a promotion and in May of 2013, Walker moved up to play for the Fredrick Keys. In 55 games with the Keys, Walker hit 8 HRs, 35 RBIs, and recorded a .822 OPS…
After 55 games with the keys, his single A days were over. Walker was getting closer and closer to his big-league dream. At the end of the 2013 baseball season, Walker played 17 games in AA with the Bowie Baysox. In those 17 games, Walker struggled. He didn’t hit any HRs, he recorded 1 RBI, and he finished with an OPS of .642. For the first time in his life, Walker struggled in the game he was best at…
But Walker didn't struggle for long. In 2014, Walker began the season in AA and he bounced back in a nice way. In 95 games with the Baysox, he hit 20 HRs, 77 RBIs, and recorded an OPS of .883. Just shy of 100 games, Walker got a promotion to triple-A. In 44 games with the Tides, he hit 6 HRs, 19 RBIs, and recorded an OPS of .763. At the end of the 2014 season, Walker got the call to the bigs. In 6 games with the Baltimore Orioles, he hit 1 HR, 1 RBI, and recorded a .600 OPS…
2015-2018: Back and forth and back and forth
Walker was back and forth from the majors to the minors from 15’-18’. Mostly staying put in the minors. In 138 AAA games in 15’, he hit 18 HRs, 74 RBIs, and recorded an OPS of .747. Once again Walker was a late call-up by the Orioles. In 9 ABs with Baltimore in 15’, Walker recorded one hit. Fast forward a year and Walker is still in AAA, only there was no late call-up to the majors. In 131 AAA games in 2016, Walker hit 18 HRs, 64 RBIs, and recorded an OPS of .758.
After the 2016 season, Walker went through a roller coaster of transactions and probably emotions. On February 21, 2017, the Orioles designated Walker for assignment. The Atlanta Braves then claimed Walker off of waivers on February 25. On March 6, the Cincinnati Reds claimed Walker and then on March 28, Walker was waived by the Reds and claimed by the Arizona Diamondbacks. I can’t imagine what was going through his mind…
Walker raked in his first season with the D-backs organization. In 133 games with the AAA Reno Aces, he hit 32 HRs, 114 RBIs, and recorded a .979 OPS. He only got 12 ABs with Arizona that year but he recorded 3 hits, 2 of those being HRs, and one being a double….
2018 would mark the last time Walker spent most of his season in the minors. In 2018, Walker hit 18 HRs, 71 RBIs, and recorded a .922 OPS over 84 games with the Aces. Christian got the call-up to the bigs late in the 2018 season and in 37 games with the Diamondbacks Walker hit 3 HRs, 6 RBIs, and recorded a .614 OPS…
2019-Present: The rest is history...
From 2019-2022 Walker has been the Diamondbacks everyday first baseman. Hats off to him, it wasn’t an easy road to get here. Over the last 4 seasons, Walker has played 484 games, hit 82 HRs, 92 doubles, and he has knocked in 247 runs. As impressive as he has been at the plate he is also an elite defender in the field. Since 2019, Walker has a 33 OAA (Outs Above Average) which ranks him first among all first basemen since that time by a long shot. 2nd on the list, Paul Goldschmidt with an 11 OAA…
Walker finally won his first gold glove award in 2022, which he very much deserved. Let’s see if he can make his first-ever all-star game this season. Walker will lead this rejuvenated offense in what hopes to be a winning season in 2023…