Astros Most Significant Offseason Signing Has Been Massive Flop So Far

The Houston Astros have hovered right around .500 this season and have been unable to take that next step as a team.

A huge part of the reason for that has been because of an offense that has struggled to maintain any sort of consistency, currently ranking 20th across Major League Baseball in terms of runs scored.

When it comes to the offense being inconsistent, Houston has seen flashes of brilliance from some of their players, however nobody has fully been able to string it together.

One of their major offseason signings has been particularly disappointing though after signing a lucrative deal and being expected to produce at an All-Star quality level in first baseman Christian Walker.

Christian Walker is Struggling Immensely at the Plate for the Astros

Walker has slashed .203/.274/.335 in the first 42 games of his Houston career.

The last few games have been even uglier for Walker, now 0-for-his last 16 and without a hit since last Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds.

On the season as a whole, the 34-year-old has posted a bWAR of -0.3, obviously far from the kind of value the Astros hoped to get when they gave him a three-year deal worth $60 million.

Walker is one of the best defensive first basemen in all of baseball and has been fine on the defensive end, but his value comes from being an effective two-way player.

Over the last three seasons for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Walker has slashed .250/.332/.481 and collected a bWAR of 11.3.

Slow starts are nothing new for the veteran and he has been prone to them in the past, however the season is almost 30% of the way concluded at this point and Walker does not seem to be getting any better.

If Houston is going to continue their dominance in the American League West and make a return to the playoffs, getting the best out of Walker is going to be absolutely critical.

The Astros will need him to turn it around sooner than later if they are going to fix their offense and figure out how to string some wins together.