Christian Walker’s playoff struggles and Diamondbacks’ World Series dilemma

No player on the Diamondbacks has been more of a disappointment at the plate this postseason than the team’s power hitter, Christian Walker.

Despite his regular-season heroics that saw him leading the team with an impressive 33 home runs, Walker’s bat has fallen eerily silent over the past couple of weeks.

Since his stellar 3-4 performance in Game 1 of the Wild Card round, Walker has struggled, going 4-39 at the plate and accumulating 16 strikeouts, including a challenging three-strikeout night in Game 1 of the World Series.

Not to mention, in the final four games of the season, Christian did not get a single hit in 19 at-bats.

What amplifies this issue is that Walker, once a powerful hitter in the Diamondbacks’ lineup, is now an anchor, making it incredibly challenging for Arizona to generate any semblance of offense from the top of their order.

Consequently, the team finds itself increasingly reliant on the speed and agility of players like Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll to navigate the bases and drive in runs.

With the Rangers holding a 1-0 lead in the World Series, this predicament has reached a tipping point, prompting manager Torey Lovullo to potentially consider moving Walker down in the batting order to spark a turnaround.