Christian Walker DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker filled the stat sheet in Wednesday's 10-2 win over the visiting Chicago White Sox at Daikin Park, going 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, a double, four RBI, and a strikeout. Walker's ninth home run of the year came in the first inning off of Sean Burke to put the team up 3-0 in the first frame. The Astros are now 8-0 in games in which Walker goes deep. The 34-year-old veteran later extended the team's lead to 5-0 in the third inning by hitting a two-run double. It was Walker's third three-hit game in his first year with the Astros and his first four-RBI game since July 3 of last year with the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was nice to see from his fantasy managers, as Walker came into Wednesday's tilt hitting just .208 on the season. It was his first multi-hit game of June, and he now has nine hits in 34 at-bats over nine games this month.

Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker hit a solo home run in Tuesday's 3-0 win over the Pirates. The homer was his eighth of the season, and he's now slashing .212/.276/.369. It's been an extremely disappointing year so far for the veteran, but he may finally be breaking out of the slump. The 34-year-old has hit three home runs in the past seven games, one of which was a three-hit day. The emergence of several young first basemen has sent Walker tumbling down the rankings, but it's too early to give up on him completely. The slugger has put up an average of 34 home runs over a 162-game pace from 2022 and 2024, which makes it worth giving him the benefit of the doubt for a little while longer.

Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker (hand) is back at first base and is batting cleanup for the Astros in Friday's contest against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays and right-hander Ryan Pepiot at Daikin Park. Walker was pulled from Wednesday's game after being hit on the hand by a pitch and sat out of Thursday's contest, but X-rays on his hand came back negative, and he's ready to go for the weekend against Tampa. The 34-year-old has so far disappointed in his first year with the Astros and has hit .200 with a home run and two RBI in 10 career at-bats against Pepiot. He'll be hoping to turn things around at the plate heading into the month of June after slashing .212/.277/.365 with a .641 OPS, seven homers, 25 RBI and 23 runs scored in his first 203 at-bats. The good news is that positive regression should be coming, as his xBA stands at .247.