Christian Walker DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker (oblique) will not swing a bat for a few days. However, he was seen running and stretching with the team earlier on Sunday. Walker underwent an MRI on his oblique after being scratched from Wednesday's lineup. However, he did not suffer a strain and the diagnosis provided "relatively good news." Fantasy managers should continue to monitor his status but he is currently on track to not miss any time during the regular season. Earlier in the offseason, the Astros signed Walker to a three-year $60 million contract. The 33-year-old has spent the majority of his MLB career in Arizona after playing his first two seasons in Baltimore. Last summer, Walker posted a .251/.335/.468 slash line with 26 doubles and 26 home runs. When healthy, he should bat in the heart of the Houston lineup which should provide him with elite RBI opportunities.

Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker's (oblique) MRI exam didn't show a "strain or anything that we are concerned about," manager Joe Espada said. The Astros are calling Walker's injury left-oblique soreness. He is returning to the team in camp on Friday and will be eased back into baseball activities. It's good news for the team's new first baseman, but the 33-year-old isn't out of the woods yet with three weeks until Opening Day. The good news is that if Walker doesn't have any setbacks with his oblique as he ramps back up, he still has a chance to be ready for the start of the regular season. If he's not ready to go, the left-handed-hitting Jon Singleton would see most of the playing time at the cold corner to begin the year. Assuming Walker's oblique injury doesn't linger and affect his early-season production, he's not a bad fallback target at the first base position in fantasy drafts. Walker has 30-plus homers in two of the last three seasons.

Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker (oblique) said his left-oblique injury isn't as serious as the one that kept him out for a month last season. He said he is sore on Thursday but not worse than Wednesday, which is a good sign. Walker had an ultrasound and is waiting for the inflammation to subside before getting further imaging. It's not much of an update and doesn't really give us much of an indication if the 33-year-old will be ready by Opening Day after he was scratched from Wednesday's Grapefruit League lineup against the St. Louis Cardinals. Last year with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Walker missed five weeks in the second half of the season. Even if this oblique injury isn't as serious, it doesn't mean he won't start the 2025 season on the injured list. Until we know more, it will certainly give fantasy managers pause in taking Walker as a top-10 fantasy first baseman in upcoming drafts.