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Jose Abreu will go down as one of the biggest free agent busts in Houston Astros history. His two-year stint saw the former AL MVP hit just .217/.275/.354 after signing a three-year, $58.5 million contract with the Astros prior to 2023. Things got so bad for Abreu that he was sent on a minor-league assignment in 2024 to see if there was any way to extract some semblance of production from the three-time All-Star. As it turns out, even that didn't work, and Abreu was released last season.
Unfortunately, Astros fans fear they may have another Abreu-like bust on their hands. Christian Walker, who inked a three-year, $60 million deal this past offseason, is off to a pathetic start this season. Walker is hitting just .156/.2553/.260 and has struck out more times than fans care to count.
Considering Walker's spring training was cut short due to an oblique injury, Astros fans will undoubtedly be at least a little patient with the three-time Gold Glove Award-winner. But the similarities between Walker and Abreu are hard to ignore, and Houston is scrambling to find a way to fix the first baseman's forgotten swing.
Christian Walker's struggles have Astros fans experiencing Jose Abreu déjà vu
Through his first 87 trips to the plate this season, Walker's bat speed is the only advanced metric that's even the same stratosphere of the numbers he produced in 2024. According to Baseball Savant, Walker's chase rate (31.1%), strikeout rate (31%), and hard hit rate (42%) are miles away from where they were last season. The same thing happened to Abreu from 2022 to 2023.
ESPN analyst Karl Ravech posted a video to social media prior to Houston's game on Sunday Night Baseball that showed Walker placing a baseball in front of home plate during batting practice as a reminder to stay back on the ball. Foolish as this pregame routine may seem, Astros fans are willing to believe anything at this point if it means Walker's nightmarish start to the season finally turns a corner.
BP-Christian Walker leaves ball in front of plate in an effort to get himself to stay back and hit ball out front. @astros @Padres 7et ESPN pic.twitter.com/icP6m2VeSH
— Karl Ravech (@karlravechespn) April 20, 2025
It's still April, and these things have a way of working themselves out, but the similarities between Abreu and Walker are too difficult to ignore. Until Houston's biggest free agent signee starts producing, Astros fans will continue to have concerns. The haunting memory of Abreu's time in Houston is still fresh, and Walker is doing nothing to erase it.