Astros’ first round pick is making a strong case for himself down in the AFL

He's heating up.

Eric Cole

Walker Janek (3) celebrates his 3-run home run / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

When the Houston Astros selected catcher Walker Janek with the 28th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, it raised more than a few eyebrows. Janek was a great prospect, but the Astros' draft resources were limited, and catcher wasn't a particularly high area of concern. Nevertheless, it hasn't taken long for Janek to start winning his doubters over and show why the Astros were so enamored with him.

After a lackluster pro debut last year, Janek made an adjustment to his approach that immediately started to pay dividends to the tune of a .263/.333/.433 slash line in 92 games at High-A Asheville. That's real progress, and with Janek's catching acumen, it is not surprising that the Astros ultimately decided to send him to the Arizona Fall League.

So far, that decision is looking very wise with Janek raking in the AFL and looking as though he could factor into the Astros plans really soon.

Walker Janek's AFL performance could change Astros' plans for 2026

One shouldn't get too excited about what has been a very small sample of games in the AFL, but it's hard to ignore how good Janek has looked. In eight games, he's hit .303/.361/.667 with three home runs. Now we are talking.

IfJanek can continue to perform well (though carrying a .667 slugging percentage for a month is quite a reach), Houston is going to have to make some decisions.

Janek was a college draft pick, so moving him through the minor leagues quickly isn't a crazy notion. With Yainer Diaz's offensive struggles in 2025, combined with his defensive shortcomings, there was already a strong argument for Diaz to be traded this offseason; and this was before Janek's hot start in the AFL.

That's a discussion for later in the offseason, however. There's still a bunch of games left to play in the AFL and Janek has to do his part before any further discussion of his future plans would make any sense. There's no denying, however, that he's trending in the right direction and that's adding another level of intrigue to the Astros' offseason.

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.