Christian Walker

Walker took Michael Wacha deep in the fourth inning for his only hit of the game. The 33-year-old slugger is up to 23 homers while slashing .259/.340/.487 with 60 runs scored and 70 RBI across 447 plate appearances.

All three runs Wacha allowed on Wednesday came via solo homers. Eugenio Suarez took him deep in the second inning before Joe Pederson and Christian Walker went back-to-back in the fourth. Wacha recorded two outs in the fifth and left with two runners on. He struck out one. The 33-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 3.65 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and an 86/29 K/BB ratio across 101 innings. He'll take on the White Sox in Chicago on Tuesday.

He scoffs at your idea of linear player development. The post On Christian Walker’s Quiet Excellence (& Non-Linear Thinking) appeared first on Pitcher List.

It's a defensible choice, though Shohei Ohtani is right there, and Trea Turner and Christian Walker also might have been better options. Marte will be followed by Ohtani, Turner, Bryce Harper, William Contreras, Yelich, Alex Bohm, Teoscar Hernandez and Jurickson Profar.

Kikuchi cruised into the fifth inning on Sunday with a comfortable 7-0 lead, but things got much tighter after Kikuchi allowed a single, two walks and then a one-out grand slam to Ketel Marte. Jays' manager John Schneider stuck with him, as he allowed a walk to Gabriel Moreno and a single to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. before punching out Christian Walker for the second out. He then allowed an RBI single to Randal Grichuk and plunked Jake McCarthy before mercifully being removed -- and both inherited runners went on to score. Kikuchi heads into the All-Star break with a 4-8 record, 4.42 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and a 117/26 K/BB ratio over 106 innings through his first 20 starts. He looked like a much better trade chip prior to Sunday's disastrous fifth inning.