Atlanta Braves Grab Christian Walker Off The Wire

 College  Ball

At South Carolina Walker moved to first base and  posted a .336/.427/.533/.960 line with 30 homers, 75 doubles, 72 strikeouts and 115 walks in 871 PA. Walker tied Dustin Ackley’s College World Series career hits record with 28 while helping SC win back-to-back national championships.

(Statistics Courtesy The Baseball Cube)

That convinced Baltimore to select him in the fourth round of the 2012 draft.

Minor League Travels

To say Walker hit well and moved quickly through the Oriole’s system in 2013 is somewhat of an understatement. He began the year in low A before moving through A,  A+ and ending the year at AA.

Walker started 2014 back in AA and launched 20 homers there with a .301/.367/.516/.884 line earning him a move to AAA Norfolk in July. He finished the year there, posting a .259/.335/.428/.763 line with six homers in 188 PA, that was good enough for a September call up to Baltimore.

Baseball America noted that Baltimore always thought Walker had plus power even when over scouts thought his power would be good but not spectacular. That led to their player development instructors encouraging Walker to concentrate more on hitting for power in 2014; a sad hangover from the Earl Weaver philosophy in my view.

BA ($) had good things to say about Walkers’ future as a solid first baseman in their post year evaluation and ranked him the O’s number three prospect at that time.

"“. . .Walker keeps his bat in the zone a long time, recognizes pitches and has good bat speed. . .(he) has improved his footwork but is more competent than an asset defensively, and is a below-average runner. Walker’s makeup will be the separator if he becomes a regular.”"

That last bit from BA in spite of Walkers selection as the best defensive first baseman in the Eastern league for 2014.