It was Saturday night, August 31, 2019. The Arizona Diamondbacks, riding a five-game winning streak and trying to climb their way to a wild card berth, led the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, 6–4. It was the top of the ninth, and there were no outs. Matt Beaty, a lefty, stepped to the plate to face Diamondbacks closer Archie Bradley. Chris Taylor stood on third, Cody Bellinger was on second, and Joc Pederson was on first. Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker recalled, “Automatically with a lefty, my mentality goes to ‘This ball will be hit at me.’ Not ‘If this ball is hit at me, which way do I go with it?’ It’s ‘This ball is coming to me. Get ready to field this baseball.’ ”
On Bradley’s first pitch, Beaty smashed a rocket toward the hole on the right side. “Torey (Lovullo, the Diamondbacks manager) and Tony (Perezchica, the third base coach and infield coach) had us in a high-alert, floating position, where they give the option to us,” Walker said. “Given the tempo and how hard the ground ball is hit and the baserunners at the bases, it’s basically my choice. If that ball is slow, and it was a chopper, then I’ve got to charge it, and my play goes to home plate. It ended up being a pretty well-hit top-spinner just to my right.”
Read More: First Baseman’s Mitt — Why is it? What is it?
Christian Walker Saves the Game
Walker dove to his right and snagged it on one hop. From one knee, he whipped the ball to second. “I had to leave my feet, but it was taking me towards second base anyway. Because of the tempo, how hard it was hit, and where I was — with an angle to second base — I felt like my play was to second base. That run (Taylor), obviously, is going to score, but we…were up by two at the time. So once I saw how hard the ball was hit, the priority was a double play.”
Shortstop Nick Ahmed quickly gathered the throw — “It was perfect,” Ahmed recalled — stepped on the bag, and fired to first. Bradley, hustling as soon as the ball was hit, caught the throw with his toe on the bag. As first base umpire Alex Tosi made a forceful “out” call, Bradley pumped his fist in triumph. The next hitter — Russell Martin — grounded to Ahmed for the final out, giving the Diamondbacks a 6–5 victory. Several factors contributed to the victory, but Walker’s play in the ninth was one of the biggest. Ahmed — two years later — said, “That was a huge play. The ball was smoked off the bat, and he lays out for the diving play. We ended up getting two. It was a huge play in a huge moment, and he’s got that ability to make that play.”
The Importance of Defense
That ability has not gone away, despite the rough season Walker has had in 2021. His 2019 and 2020 numbers have not continued into 2021, a year that has been frustrating for Walker. He has spent two different stints on the injured list. Despite being back, his body still is not cooperating, according to what he told this author in late June. Players tend to have down years at the plate from time to time. When that happens, teams stick with guys who continue to produce in other ways. For Walker, it is with his defense.
Christian Walker did not begin playing first base until he was at the University of South Carolina. Until then — being right-handed — he was mainly a third baseman and a catcher. Even after becoming a full-time first baseman, he did not buy into all the “defense wins championships” sayings at first. That did not come until he was in the pros, seeing how seriously his teammates and opponents took defense. “There are a lot of guys who have jobs in pro ball because they’re good defenders,” Walker said. “They can’t hit a lick, but they play consistent, good defense, and you know what to expect out of them. That’s somebody’s role, (so) to work on it and get better at it felt like a no-brainer.”
The Work Ethic of Christian Walker
Christian Walker took “work on it and get better” to a new level. It started when he joined the Diamondbacks organization on March 28, 2017 (his birthday) after three teams — the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, and Cincinnati Reds — had waived him in a 31-day span. The Diamondbacks had strong defenders in the infield, but two of them — Paul Goldschmidt and Nick Ahmed — were and still are among the best in the National League. But Walker didn’t limit himself to those two. “(I tried) to surround myself with good defenders and ask questions,” he said — no matter what position they played. However, since he and Goldschmidt both played first base, Walker said he was around him “a decent amount.”
Perezchica — himself a retired infielder — credits Walker’s progress to his work ethic. “He’s put in a lot of work over the last five years I’ve known him. If you put in the work, you get better, and that’s where he is. He has definitely (improved) defensively. His range is ‘plus’ range. He’s working a lot on his throwing, whether it’s pickoff or trying to turn double plays. You see him working every day, and that’s ultimately going to make you better.”
Infielder Andrew Young admires Walker’s devotion to his craft. “I get to see the work he puts in every day. He’s out here taking early ground balls and then ground balls during (batting practice).” Catcher Carson Kelly added, “You see (Walker’s defensive skill) in his work. He comes out early and gets his ground balls. (Walker) does the things he needs to do to get ready every single day. Over the course of time, he’s developed a good routine to get him ready, and it shows in the game.”
Taking His Work Seriously
Christian Walker credits the entire coaching staff in Arizona, but especially Perezchica, for his defensive development. However, much of his development comes from the way he approaches drills. Walker explained, “A lot of times it’s just a reps thing, (but also) taking the reps seriously. Not just warmup, practice reps. But trying to play full speed reps. Trying to play for ‘full speed’ reps and act like there’s runners on and trying to make throws. Pretend like there are runners on the bases where you have to sneak a ball around a runner and stuff like that. There’s a difference between ‘just getting practice in’ and ‘high intensity reps,’ where you’re working on your craft and trying to (replicate) those moments as much as possible.”
Walker also credits Ahmed with getting the message to him in his language. The Orioles stressed defense, but their delivery method didn’t click with him. Talking with Ahmed, however, was different. Walker said, “Learning is a very specific thing. If something’s not put to you and your personality and your character and the fiber of you as player, sometimes it’s hard to pick up on it. It was simply surrounding myself with a different group of people. Like I said, I asked Nick a lot of questions. Nick and I are cut from the same cloth. He obviously takes his defense seriously and has won a lot of awards because of it. So to let a guy like that be around and not try to pick his brain seems pretty foolish. It’s all the same stuff. It’s just different words — a different language.”
Working on Specific Skills
Former Diamondbacks catcher Stephen Vogt, before being traded to the Atlanta Braves in mid-July, said about Walker, “He’s saved us so many bases with his picking ability over there at first — saved us a number of times. So he’s somebody that we trust over there that our infielders can just throw it over at him and he’s gonna catch it. He’s gonna get it done. (Walker) is a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman, and it’s huge to be able to trust him with with all those throws going over there.”
Young added, “He’s very good at picking the ball” and that when throwing the ball over there, there is “no doubt” that Walker will come up with it. Kelly remarked, “He’s like a vacuum over there.” Infielder Asdrubal Cabrera may have put it best — “I can close my eyes and throw it over there if I want.”
Working on Skills without Working on Them
Reflexes and scooping ability are two of the most important skills for a first baseman. Walker never works specifically on them, although he’s “always had pretty good hand-eye coordination,” in his own words. He, instead, works on picks simply through his general pre-game fielding routines. “When you’re taking ground balls,” he explained, “occasionally you’ll get a funny hop or something like that. But that’s just a part of like the high intensity reps. You can work on stuff without actually working on it. I can take 100% reps, and there’s going to be weird hops. I’m going to misread a ball but still have to work around it and make the play anyway. If you bobble a ball, (don’t) just pick it up and throw it to second anyway. (You have to understand) the tempo of that and get the out at first here.
“(I practice) fielding bunts and the things that only show up maybe once a week in the game, but they’re things that if you don’t practice, you get rusty fairly quick. So I’m just making sure all my boxes are checked. At times, the workload adds up. But for me, that’s a calculated risk.”
It All Pays Off for Christian Walker
All the hard work Christian Walker has put in is paying off. In 2019, Walker was a Gold Glove candidate. Although then-Chicago Cub Anthony Rizzo ultimately won, Walker had better defensive metrics. Walker finished first among NL first basemen in Total Zone Runs (Rtot) with 10, while Rizzo — with six — tied for fourth. In Runs Saved (Rdrs — Defensive Runs above Average, from Baseball Info Solutions), Walker finished first (nine), while Rizzo, with five, tied for fourth. (Author’s note: Both of these statistics measure how many fewer runs a team gave up by having this player on defense instead of the average first baseman in the league.)
Although 2020 was a down year for Walker defensively, he is having another strong year in 2021. Rtot is not kind to him — one — but Rdrs ranks Walker highly, with five — second to Max Muncy of the Dodgers, who has seven.
This has all paid off for Walker, and his peers notice. Vogt said, “He’s really focused and reads swings really well. (Walker is) ready for the ball, and he’s got a lot of range. He’s not afraid to leave his position and trust the pitcher to get over there, which is huge.”
Right-handed Talent
To go one step further, Christian Walker is among the top defensive first basemen in the league, and he’s doing this at a position whose best fielders are typically left-handed. Perezchica said, “It’s an awkward position for a right-handed first baseman. That’s why you do a lot of what I call ‘inward turning’ to make that throw to second base a little bit easier. But he’s as good as anybody that’s out there from the from the right side.” Vogt added, “Usually it’s the lefties that get the love, but Walk’s right up there.”
Ahmed pointed out the similarities between Walker and Goldschmidt, who is also right-handed and an outstanding defender. “Playing with Goldy for a ton of years, there’s a lot of similarities there. His ability to put his feet in the right spot, make tough hops turn into easy plays, and picking balls out of the dirt… He and Goldy are the standard right there as far as right-handed first basemen go.”
One mark of an outstanding defender is that tough plays look routine, making it unnoticeable to many spectators. Kelly mentioned, “He makes the everyday plays, and he makes some pretty spectacular plays.” Lovullo — himself a retired infielder — added, “He’s a run saver over there. (Walker) makes plays that are noticeable. And he does things that are that are not so noticeable to the common fan, where he’s engaging the play and saving runs. It’s simple. He’s a great student of the game — he pays attention. He prides himself on playing on both sides of the ball. And it’s translated. He’s an above-average defender. It’s a lot of hard work — a lot of trusted coaching. A very high level of execution has allowed him to do this.”
Trust from His Coaches and Teammates
Trusted coaching and execution bring us full circle to the diving double play against the Dodgers in 2019. Walker said, “Being in the floating, free position and giving ourselves some depth, I had room to feel it. A lot of times a coach or a team will put you in…where you’re only trying to get to play at home. Now you’ve cut your distance down by 10-15 feet, but you can get less balls. So if I’m playing in on the grass, (Beaty’s grounder) is probably hit by me, and they score two to tie it up. Having the freedom and the trust in your coaching staff to play with depth allows you to trust yourself and make the decision in the moment.”
Given human nature for wanting to be appreciated, it is uncommon for players to focus on skills that don’t produce noticeable, visible results. With defensive plays, for example, many go unnoticed, especially if they occur in the early or middle innings. Walker’s play being the second-to-last of the game made it memorable for many who watched it. It also, given the human brain’s tendency to best remember what happens toward the end of games, gave more emphasis to the importance of defense.
This meant a lot to Walker, despite his humble nature. “For me, that was great, because I felt like my hard work and my defense contributed to us winning that baseball game. A lot of times, good defensive plays get lost in the mix of the game. (For example,) a good play in the fourth is forgotten at the end of the game. But when you win by one, maybe that stopped the run from scoring and changed the whole game. This (play told me) it’s worth it and to keep working.”
Main Photo:
Players mentioned:
Matt Beaty, Archie Bradley, Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson, Christian Walker, Torey Lovullo, Tony Perezchica, Nick Ahmed, Russell Martin, Paul Goldschmidt, Andrew Young, Carson Kelly, Stephen Vogt, Asdrubal Cabrera, Anthony Rizzo, Max Muncy
