Walker rides season 'roller coaster'

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If he’s going to ride a roller coaster this year, D-backs first baseman Christian Walker is going to head to an amusement park. When it comes to his time at the ballpark, Walker is trying to keep things on an even keel.

“Honestly, last year was such a good learning experience for me,” Walker said.

Walker opened the year crushing balls at the plate, but having little to show for it. His expected stats early in the season, which are based on things like exit velocity and launch angle, were outstanding. His actual numbers were not.

Walker’s numbers eventually came around last year. He finished with 36 homers and a 126 OPS+ and also won his first career Gold Glove award.

This year, his numbers are good -- he had a 135 OPS+ heading into play Friday night and had already hit 11 homers -- and mentally he’s incorporating lessons from last year.

“Just like when the numbers weren't there last year and I had to trust my process, it's kind of a similar headspace this year to be honest,” Walker said. “Like I know I feel competitive and I feel good and am helping the team right now. Outside of that, acknowledging the numbers doesn't feel like ... doesn't really add much to it.”

Walker will encounter struggles at some point this year, every player does, and that knowledge will keep him from hitting the panic button and changing everything all at once.

“Obviously I want to keep it going, but in the same sense, I understand how quickly things can change and how temporary things can be in baseball. Not like a negative Debbie Downer kind of sense, but I’m just trying to be real with the whole thing and I feel like as long as my process is good and I feel competitive, then everything else will kind of line up.”

Toward the back half of last year, D-backs manager Torey Lovullo noticed that Walker was doing a better job of cutting down his swing when he needed to hit a ball hard up the middle as opposed to always looking to hit the ball out of the ballpark.

“I think he's just a very good hitter that is understanding how he feels per pitch, per at-bat and he's counterpunching what he's getting from the pitcher,” Lovullo said. “Just a mature approach, a very, very mature, professional approach right now.”

That will keep him off those amusement park rides.

“I think when people talk about the roller coaster of baseball, for me it's reacting to either needing to be better or feeling like I'm playing maybe outside myself at the moment,” he said.

“It’s like I either gotta hold on to it really tight or you're trying to get back this elusive thing and it's like, both ends of that spectrum are exhausting. So for me, the battle is just staying in the middle of the road."