The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros First Baseman Christian Walker Forming Chemistry With New Infielders

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

Christian Walker, the new first baseman for the Houston Astros, joined "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross" from the first day of full-squad workouts at spring training in West Palm Beach, Florida. The three-time Gold Glove winner signed a $60 million, three-year contract with the Astros last December and discussed his decision to play in Houston and building chemistry with his new teammates.

All right. Christians Walker is the newest Houston Astro wearing the Monday through Friday whites. Man, that's a clean looking look right there. Yeah, it feels good. By the way, what the hell were y'all wearing in Arizona the last few years? Y'all have had some terrible-ass uniforms. Yeah, the colors got weird there for a little bit. Colors, everything got weird. I mean, what was that all about? You couldn't figure out what you were wearing.

Yeah, those city connects, the Serbientes are love or hate. It's a tough one. Yeah, like six different. I mean, the Diamondbacks change your uniform. You must have worn 15 uniforms while you were there. Yeah, it makes it tough. I like having some custom gear in season, and you never know what colors or what color schemes to order during the off season.

All right, got to get a couple things knocked out. Our program director is an SEC fan. He wants to honor you with your great days at South Carolina. Give us your great moment as a South Carolina baseball player. Yeah, absolutely. Without a doubt, I mean, easy answer, the national championships. Perfect. 2010, 2011, we were back-to-back national champions there.

We got to close out Rosenblatt and then open up that new stadium with Natty. so kind of a fun thing there. All right. Now we're going to be honest on the other side of it. You won the National League pennant a couple of years ago. We hate the Rangers. You as Americans let us down. You know that right.

You see their parade? If you didn't want to want it, you did a nice parade. I've been to Phoenix many time. I'm the Rockets and the House. So we go there all the time. Great city. They were in a freaking Walmart grocery store. Yeah.

It's pretty sad parade in Arlington. So next parade, you always won here, right? We make sure it's here for sure. Yeah. Take us through this for agent process. You had been in Arizona for 90% of your major league career. So a thought or two about what that was like. Did you enjoy the experience?

Were you intimate in conversations with your agent on the daily? Or did you say, hey, get back to me. You wanted to hear something you liked. Yeah, a little bit of both. There's definitely quiet periods and crazy periods of the offseason. Fortunately, we had a little bit of leverage coming in. So I wasn't too worried about, you know, if somebody was going to call, it was just a matter of finding the right fit and a place that

I wanted to play. There's not a lot of chances and opportunities in the business side of things these days to get to pick where you play. Try to pick a place where you want to play. So we wanted to use it to our advantage. You know, Arizona was great, but it was pretty far from home for us. We live in South Carolina. So going into the off season, my wife and I had Houston circled. It was a city that we were excited to be a part of and just super pumped when the front of. office reached out. And what's it been like for you getting here, getting acclimated? Obviously, first full team workout here today, but from the outside, looking in and now kind of being here for a little bit, getting to know the guys, the Astros, the clubhouse he'll feel for you here.

Yeah, it's great. You can tell winning is at the forefront. But in the same sense, you know, at this time of the year, it's just getting back into the swing of things. And it's a pretty lighthearted attitude. I think, you know, you see guys working hard and getting their reps in, but also, So, you know, joking around and having fun, it's a good time of year. We're all got the itch after a long offseason. And, you know, being back in the good weather and playing baseball again is what we want. Do you do any recon about the Astros as an organization when you knew they were on the short list for yourself? A little bit, a little bit other than the obvious things.

You know, it's cool, you know, meeting a guy like Bagwell, getting to have some conversations with him, how much pride he has for this organization. and, you know, he said something today. He's been wearing this uniform since 1990. So hearing little things like that and really remind you of the culture and, you know, the winning tradition. Three straight gold gloves for yourself.

First of all, where are they? I mean, do you have them in your, at the house, or where can I find the gold glove of yours? Yeah, they're in the house. I have a little workout room upstairs with some gear, some bats that I've had signed by guys and some teammates, and they're in there, you know, on the trophy rack, if you will.

Who was your first baseman idol growing up? That's a good question. So I didn't actually start playing first base until college. Growing up, high school, middle school, I was an infielder, but mostly third base. I loved watching Scott Rowland. He was my guy. I got a chance. I was a Philly's fan growing up, so he came through Philly and watching him was a lot of fun.

And then Ryan Howard, you know, that first year he had, that rookie year, broke onto the scene. that was a lot of fun to watch too. I was in high school for that. When we were growing up, and probably you'd as well, a lot of the first baseman were big stodgy guys, just finding a place for them. First of all, I grew up watching Jeff Bagwell,

so I knew there was intricacies to it. Yule de Guerriel before, a couple years before, the same situation. The art of playing first base, thankfully, I think, is no longer just put the fact out there. It's a skill holding runners on, fielding your position well.

Tell me the biggest adjustment for you going from the left side of the right side of the infield and being able to say, yeah, I want to own this part of the field. Yeah, absolutely. I think what helped me was playing on the other side of the infield at one point and knowing what it's like to feel like you have to make a perfect throw. I feel like you got to hit somebody in the chest over there for them to make the play. And, you know, I pride myself on not being that guy. I want to be somebody that, you know, my short stop can lay out in the hole and come up and throw from his knees and know that if he gets it close, we're going to make the out. That that always helped me as an infielder knowing I had somebody over there. So, you know,

that's something that's important to me playing first base now. Christian Walker, newest Houston Astro with us here on the radio program. Very excited that you came here because we were all anxious about what's going to happen with Alex and figuring out with Kyle and whatnot. When you finally signed on the dotted line, tell me what it was like, trying to find your teammates, know what was going to be there. And honestly, this infield is going to be completely different. How long do you think it's going to take and is there going to be a magic day that you're going to go,

all right, we as a collective group know what we're doing in here. No, it's hard to pick a date. I think Tony Perry's Cheek is going to do a great job of making sure we get quality reps out there together. I think practicing fast is important. Yeah. You know, feeling out each other's range and, you know, like something little like knowing that, you know, Dubon is such a great arm, but trying to figure out his arm action. Does he cut it? Does he throw it clean?

You know, is it a true ball? Does it have arm side? everybody has their tendencies so it's fun to get to know some new really, really good infielders. How long can that take to get used to and acclimate to you? This time of year it happens pretty quick.

It's never really a struggle. It's just, you know, before we know it here, we're going to have hundreds of ground balls together and, you know, hundreds of double plays that we've turned on the backfield. So it happens quick. I'd say here in, you know, about a week or so,

we all start feeling pretty comfortable with each other. You have a lot left in your career, but once the clock turns 30 and beyond, did you have to adjust getting ready for this season, getting maybe a little sooner as compared to maybe when you're in your 20s coming up in the game? I mean, yes, I know. I think there's a side of it where the more time you spend around the game, the more you know yourself and you know your routine

and you know what you need to be ready for a season. Spring trainings, it can be a long amount of time, and it can be short. It's right. It's like some years you feel like you just, You're not clicking, you're not clicking, and then all the opening day comes, and it's, it's, it's lightning. And then other years, it's like by 10 at-bats in, you feel like you're in a good spot, and you could go to opening day the next day. So it's, you know, the age or anything like that, that's nothing that's on my radar.

My body feels good. I spend a decent amount of time in the weight room. It's something that I pride myself on. It's helped me stay on the field for a while. So, you know, feeling strong, feeling, feeling ready to go and looking to, looking forward to playing a lot of games. Your overall thoughts about playing at Dyken Park now, you've been there obviously a few times over your career.

Yeah, yeah, I'm very excited. I like the dome feel. I think that's cool. I think the consistency in the environment knowing the weather in Houston and the rain, I'm sure it comes in quick and the humidity and all that. So knowing if there's a home game, we're playing.

I think that mental just knowing what to expect, getting into a routine, you know, there's nothing like waking up on a gloomy day and trying to figure out if there's going to be a delay or if you're hitting BP on the field and this and that. So I'm looking forward to that and then, you know, the fans. It's something that's always stuck out to me coming in as a visiting team is playing in front of the fan base. What was your conversation's been like so far with Joe Spotted? Because, I mean, as you know,

first base was in flux for the last couple of years. Now, give you a big hug. Say I'm happy to put you in first base every day. Any conversations also about DH? And can you play left field? I'm just kidding. We're trying to figure out left field. Everybody in their mothers wants to play left field, apparently. I actually, coming up with a few different teams, there was a lot of really good first basement in front of me. So I have played left field. Oh, there we go, folks.

Oh, here we go. We just started. Hopefully, we just started a controversy now. Because it's not pretty out there. No, I mean, D.H and cool, like if that's something where, you know, it's a way to maybe take a day and get the legs back under me. But honestly, I like to be out in the field. I think it helps me stay in a routine offensively. you know, stay moving, and it's something that I've just grown up doing.

I enjoy being out in the field for sure. But, yeah, I think there's something to coming in and feeling valued. You know, that makes you excited to play. It makes you excited to prove everybody right. You know, the standards are real. The expectations are real. And it's something that you crave as a big league. Or you want somebody to put pressure on you and you have to go out and prove it.

So you're a South Carolina native. No, no, no, I grew up just outside of Philly. I was going to say, because I was like, you have no accent whatsoever. You don't have a Philly accent, of a South Carolina accent, and none of that. Yeah, yeah, they've both kind of disappeared. I went to school there, obviously, and just fell in love with the area and never left, but grew up just outside of Philly. Same city as Mike Piazza and Gino Oriama.

Do your research, Matt. Come on. Yeah, Tommy Lissort. By the way, we know your dog's names, too. Yeah, that's true. What was it, Dottie and... Jackson, Millie. Oh, Millie.

We have, there's a cat. Oh, okay, cat. Yeah, she's a, she belongs to the neighborhood now. Oh, really? The neighborhood cat? Yeah, she's just on her own. So what part of South Carolina? Do you live in Columbia itself?

We do. Just north of Columbia. We're like 15 minutes from campus. So can you walk around town incognito or do people stipe at the grocery store? They recognize me for sure, but it's more from the Gamecock days than from ProBall. The Braves are the team there. So everybody knows the Gamecocks more than that. Do they realize how many home runs you've hit?

the last five years? Yeah, Arizona. Arizona was cool. It's a crazy thing getting recognized. It's humbling and all that, but back home in South Carolina, it's mostly from the national championships. Okay.

I've never been to South Carolina. Apparently quite an experience. I mean, for football, women's team never loses. I mean, I don't know. That's all about it. Yeah, they're the dynasty. Yeah, geez.

They did. They did. Any SEC smack talk in the clubhouse at this point? Not yet. Not yet. I'm sure it'll start once, especially when football season starts back up, but nothing, nothing so far.

Well, we're very happy to have you here. Such a nice surprise when you came here. I mean, we're anxious. This is kind of new to us. We've known Braggs, we've known, you really, a couple of years ago. We've had, you know, J.V. and Kyle Tucker. This is, you're actually coming not at a bad time because I think they're all, your teammates are trying to figure out what the vibe's going to be right now.

Yeah, yeah, it's a fun time. It's, you know, guys, guys come and go. It's part of the business side of things, unfortunately. you never want to lose guys, especially people who, you know, were staples in the lineup and a part of a lot of successful years. But I think there's a cool opportunity about that of being able to keep the success going with a different group of guys, different responsibilities, different roles. And so far, the clubhouse has been great, and I'm looking forward to, you know, continuing to mesh.

He alluded to the DH for a let you run. Do you like the DH once in a while to get off your feet a little bit, or is that you just, I need to be, if I'm in the lineup, I need to be at first base. So, I mean, I would much rather be at first base, but I would rather be in the lineup than not at all. A full day off, yeah, period. So, you know, if that's a way to get some at-bats and help the team on days where, you know, maybe we're trying to rest up the legs or something like that, for sure, very, very interested in something like that.

But if it was my call, I'd be at first every day. Thank you so much for coming by. Again, it's our pleasure to have you in town. You're going to love the city of Houston, diehard baseball group, great stadium. not 155 degrees in Phoenix like it is every day, but the humidity's going to suck. I'm just going to be honest with you. It's not great.

Yeah, we're used to it a little bit on the East Coast. I'm sure it'll be. It's a, yeah, and we don't have the dry heat. We just have, like, just pure heating. You start your air conditioning on. The five-minute walk to the park, you'll be fine. Yeah, yeah, we got from the garage. Yeah, I appreciate you guys having it.

All right, Christian Walker. By the way, you've got a media career ahead of you, too. We're a little scared. We're going to take our jobs. All right, Christian Walker with us here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. More coming up in a moment here on Sports Talk 790.