Astros keep doubling down on struggling Christian Walker in the worst possible way

The Houston Astros got the better of the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night thanks to an Isaac Paredes walk-off homer. But it's a good thing the Astros slugger ended things when he did because Christian Walker was on deck. You know, that same Walker who's hitting .213/.287/.353 and is somehow still batting cleanup.

For some odd reason, Astros manager Joe Espada has no problem reshuffling the Houston batting order because Jose Altuve needs a few extra seconds to run in from left field, but won't make a single change when his cleanup hitter is struggling to, well, clean up much of anything.

Walker's numbers on the season aren't good and his last 15 games haven't shown much improvement whatsoever. The Astros' biggest free agent acquisition this offseason is hitting just .237/.292/.373 with 17 strikeouts in his last 59 at-bats, and yet somehow is hitting fourth in the lineup.

Astros keep doubling down on struggling Christian Walker rather than turning to Yainer Diaz

Part of this is due to the fact that Yordan Alvarez is on the injured list. Given the change at the top of the batting order — flipping Jeremy Peña for Altuve — it's quite likely that one of Alvarez or Paredes would be batting cleanup if Houston was fully healthy. But it's not as if Alvarez would be Espada's only option.

Yainer Diaz has flipped the script on his early-season struggles and is one of Houston's hottest hitters at the moment. Once April was in the rearview mirror, Diaz turned into the player that Astros fans were hoping to see at the outset of the season. The Astros catcher is hitting .348/.375/.543 with a 163 wRC+ since May 2. Astros fans know all too well that Diaz isn't going to draw a lot of walks (2.1% walk rate), but he's also not going to strike out a lot either. Over the last two weeks he owns a 12.5% strikeout rate.

Walker, on the other hand, is striking out 25% of the time and has an 89 wRC+ during that same timeframe. Diaz has nearly double the number of extra-base hits as Walker since the calendar flipped to May. Houston's first baseman is even being outplayed by Jake Meyers — which still feels like cruel joke.

Espada needs to rethink the Astros starting lineup. With Peña, Altuve, and Paredes hitting 1-2-3, it's time to add some much needed pop behind the top of the order. Walker should be bumped down to No. 6 in the Astros lineup with Diaz and Meyers moved ahead of him.

More Houston Astros News and Rumors