Christian Walker knows his offense is ‘not good enough’ for struggling Astros

ST. LOUIS — Christian Walker wears his frustrations, a fact the Houston Astros have learned far too early in his tenure. Each unproductive at-bat elicits some emotion he can’t suppress, be it a slight bend of Walker’s knee, the crane of his neck toward the sky or, on Monday night at Busch Stadium, spiking his helmet into the dirt.

“You’ll learn the more you watch, that’s a normal reaction to what I would consider just not being good enough,” Walker said.

Walker’s words mirror his mannerisms. He is his own biggest critic, a self-flagellating first baseman amid a brutal introduction to his new ballclub. Signed to produce runs and stabilize the middle of Houston’s overhauled offense, Walker is mired in one of the worst months of his major-league career.

“What I’ve been doing at the plate lately is not good enough,” Walker said before Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I understand it’s part of the game. I don’t want to run from failure — it’s inevitable. And if this stretch was happening in August, and I was right around mid-(.200 batting average), it’s a different vibe, for sure. But, new team, new organization. I expect a lot out of myself, and I want to come in and help this team win, help the offense immediately.”

Another hitless showing on Wednesday lowered Walker’s OPS to .482 after 75 plate appearances. Only 16 qualified hitters awoke with a lower one. One is Astros catcher Yainer Diaz, who has hit behind Walker during eight of Houston’s first 18 games.

Nothing better illustrates the Astros’ offensive anemia. They boast baseball’s fifth-lowest OPS, fourth-lowest slugging percentage and have other horrific counting stats buoyed only by a 14-run outburst against the Los Angeles Angels last week. Houston has scored three or fewer runs in 13 of its other 17 games.

“It’s not the ‘0-for’s. It’s none of that. I want to contribute to the wins,” Walker said. “I’m here to help this team win, and hitting in the four-hole every day and feeling like I’m not contributing to that is frustrating.”

Walker is slashing .152/.243/.152. That he has hit cleanup during each of Houston’s first 18 games is an indictment of the rest of Houston’s offense, though manager Joe Espada may soon have no choice but to consider a shakeup. After Wednesday’s game, Espada said it is “too early” to consider anything that drastic, perhaps understanding that no one else in this lineup merits moving up.

“It’s easier to buy in to yourself, easier to be confident when things are the same,” Walker said of staying in the cleanup spot. “In the same sense, there’s a lot of really good hitters on this team. I very much feel like it’s a ‘do your job or there’s going to be adjustments made’ (situation). It’s part of being accountable. It’s part of the reality of it.”

Only three teams entered Wednesday with a lower OPS from the cleanup spot in their lineup. No offense had fewer RBIs from the four-hole than the two Walker has produced as an Astro.

Walker went hitless in two Wednesday at-bats with a runner on base. He’s taken 34 of them this season, more than any of his teammates. Walker has five singles and 15 strikeouts, a trend that cannot continue if Houston hopes to author a turnaround.

“My frustrations now aren’t so much about worrying if I’m going to figure it out,” Walker said. “It’s more about every win matters, and I need to be helping contribute to the wins.”

No single explanation suffices for Walker’s prolonged struggles, though his lack of spring training at-bats appears the most convenient. Espada even brought it up on Tuesday afternoon. But the growing sample size of major-league plate appearances may soon make the explanation moot.

Walker maintained his body “feels great,” and enough time has passed that “it shouldn’t matter what spring training looked like.” He did hint that some unnatural movements crept into his swing during the first two weeks of the season, perhaps a byproduct of the spring training saga.

“I know I was healed. I know I was feeling good, but maybe my body (was) compensating for some things, protecting itself and moving how I normally move,” Walker said. “Next thing you know, a week or two weeks in, you maybe developed a bad habit. But that’s part of it.”

Walker’s exit velocities remain high, his bat speed is among baseball’s best and his hard-hit rate is in the 75th percentile of major-league players, but more than half of his contact is on the ground. Two rollover groundouts on Wednesday prolonged the problem for a player without any speed and a career groundball rate hovering around 40 percent.

Walker’s 29.8 percent chase rate is more than four points above his average, but he’s curtailed it within the past week. He’s worked eight walks in his past seven games after failing to coax one in his first 47 plate appearances. Because he chased so much early in the season, Walker said his contact point may be altered as he worked to stop.

“At the end of the day, I have to be my own coach,” Walker said. “You have to be accountable. It’s not someone else’s job to figure out your swing for you. (Astros hitting coaches) give me everything I need, numbers-wise, hitting plan-wise, drill work in the cage. Anything I feel right now is 100 percent on me.”

Walker’s salary and spot in the batting order magnify his woes, but it is disingenuous to blame him for Houston’s offensive shortcomings. Diaz has a .397 OPS after 54 at-bats. Yordan Alvarez has just four extra-base hits across his first 72 plate appearances. Jose Altuve did not double until his 73rd plate appearance of the season. Prospect Cam Smith’s OPS sunk under .600 after an 0-for-3 showing Wednesday.

All of this misery is still relative. The sample is still so small that one good weekend can make these numbers respectable.

“It’s just a matter of hanging in there, weathering the storm,” Walker said. “The timing of it is the most annoying part for me. We all have tough months. Everybody has a really, really good month. Everybody has a really, really bad month. Usually, both of those don’t make or break the season.”

(Photo: Jeff Curry / Imagn Images)

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