The Baltimore Orioles have promoted the #4 prospect in their organization, first baseman Christian Walker.
Walker, 23, has enjoyed an excellent season, hitting a combined .288 between Double and Triple-A, with 26 home runs, 25 doubles, and 96 RBIs. However, Walker did struggle considerably upon being called to Triple-A: he hit only .259 with 6 homers in 44 games.
Despite these struggles, Walker has shown great improvement over the course of season, jumping eleven spots on MLB.com’s Top 20 Orioles’ Prospect List
Furthermore, his 26 total dingers easily double his 11 from last season. And with Chris Davis failing to replicate his monster 2013, to go along with a recent suspension for amphetamines, the door is wide open for Walker.
As our own Jason Mast mentioned last week, Christian Walker has a chance to become Chris Davis’ replacement not only this year, but in the future as well. Should the former 4th round pick out of the University of South Carolina hit well enough down the stretch to earn playoff roster spot, there’s a chance the Orioles give the young gun a shot at the starting job in Spring Training.
Chris Davis will be entering his final season of arbitration this offseason. But there’s little reason to keep a player around at a projected $12M that sports the worst qualified batting average in the Major Leagues, no matter how many home runs he can hit.
Right now, Christian Walker controls his destiny. If he hits the ground running, there could be a very bright future ahead for the young first baseman.