Would other organizations value Walker and Alvarez the same?

[McNulty]

Lolz at Walker having holes in his swing. Utterly uninformed there.

[Frobby]

I think Alvarez is about 3 months at AAA away from a call to the majors. He will be a upgrade defensively in RF. He showed this spring that he can hit. One concern over the winter has been was he was disciplined enough at the plate. I think he overcame that in ST. He looked like an everyday player instead of a platoon guy. I think Alvarez is very closer to helping the O's this year.

Buck did determine that Alvarez is not a CF. He played there a lot last year but Buck says he fits in right field not in CF.

Walker needs a full season at AAA and then see what he is. Is he a first baseman or a DH? He still has a ways to go IMO.

I'd agree Alvarez is about three months away from being ready. He had 183 PA at Norfolk last year and a .767 OPS. I'm hoping for a little better than that this season before he's called up. And, of course, he has to outperform the other outfielders at Norfolk, which may not be that easy if the likes of Reimold are down there.

I don't know if Walker is further away in terms of experience. He had 188 PA and a .763 OPS, not far from Alvarez. But I just don't think he'll ever be a plus defender and at 1B you need a bit better bat than at corner OF. I think that, like Alvarez, he'll be as ready as he'll ever be after about three months, but I think he's going to fall short of being a guy who holds a regular spot on a 25-man roster, long run. That's just my impression and I hope he proves me wrong.

[Roll Tide]

Lolz at Walker having holes in his swing. Utterly uninformed there.

Yeah ...Really ? Walker has hit everywhere he's been. I think he will be fine and while I do think he needs a full season at AAA discounting him is misinformed.

[jtschrei]

It's an important year for both of these guys. They have each done well at AA. The jump to AAA and the majors is difficult. Lots of guys have done well AA and never been good players in the pros.

At this point, Alvarez seems more ready to contribute to the major league team, but I would not be surprised to see Walker do really well in AAA. And if he does do well, I think the Orioles are likely to let Davis walk and get a pick for him.

[weams]

Lolz at Walker having holes in his swing. Utterly uninformed there.

Yeah ...Really ? Walker has hit everywhere he's been. I think he will be fine and while I do think he needs a full season at AAA discounting him is misinformed.

I think you were both agreeing.

[weams]

I am not sold on Walker. He has some big holes in his swing. Also has a poor reputation defensively. For one thing, I think a lot of us see Steve Pearce as our next 1B. See the "Steve Pearce Extension" thread. We would not be talking about 3/$24M to Pearce if we were just going to hand 1B to Walker.

I think Alvarez will play a big role for us as early as 2016. If we hadn't gotten De Aza he would probably be playing right now. He can clearly hit and everyone in the organization is talking about his arm.

I think this was the post you were both chuckling at as uninformed.

[Redskins Rick]

As in the case of Walker, how quickly players fall in and out of fandome by the OH gang.

[Frobby]

As in the case of Walker, how quickly players fall in and out of fandome by the OH gang.

Walker's not out of favor with me. I thought he was underrated at the beginning of last year, and he proved that was true. He showed a lot more power in 2014 than in 2013, and he has moved up the ladder quickly. He's put himself firmly on the map. I just fear that his bat won't be quite good enough to play at 1B, especially if his defensive skills are just so-so (which, to this point, they are). I hope he proves to be underrated again.

[Redskins Rick]

Walker's not out of favor with me. I thought he was underrated at the beginning of last year, and he proved that was true. He showed a lot more power in 2014 than in 2013, and he has moved up the ladder quickly. He's put himself firmly on the map. I just fear that his bat won't be quite good enough to play at 1B, especially if his defensive skills are just so-so (which, to this point, they are). I hope he proves to be underrated again.

Sorry was not targeting you.

But, you have to admit, some folks last season was very ready for Davis to walk and hand Walker the 1B job.

Now, he had a weak ST, some posters are done with him.

[Aristotelian]

Yeah ...Really ? Walker has hit everywhere he's been. I think he will be fine and while I do think he needs a full season at AAA discounting him is misinformed.

I was just reacting to OP, who asserted that "everyone" on the board seems to overvalue Walker. 132 K's in 532 ABs, mostly at the AA level. That seems to be his weakness. During his brief callup he had 9 K's in 18 ABs. Very small sample obviously but to the eye test his bat looked slow and as a big guy he has a large strike zone to cover. Maybe he just reminds me too much of Ryan Minor.

[Frobby]

Sorry was not targeting you.

But, you have to admit, some folks last season was very ready for Davis to walk and hand Walker the 1B job.

Now, he had a weak ST, some posters are done with him.

No worries, I didn't think you were targeting me, just stating my own views. While I'm sure there were some people ready to hand a starting job to Walker, I'm sure that thought never entered the mind of Dan Duquette or Buck Showalter. And personally, I think his performance this spring is largely irrelevant to anything. The guy had 14 at bats; that doesn't prove anything at all. But I want to see better than a .763 OPS at Norfolk and so-so defense before I'm handing Walker a job.

[MatthewW]

I always looked at Christian Walkers ceiling as a right handed version of Matt Stairs... And i would gladly take that.

[mdbdotcom]

To me, Christain Walker is Chris Parmelee without the strong defense. Until he shows more, I'd rather play Parmalee.

[MurphDogg]

To me, Christain Walker is Chris Parmelee without the strong defense. Until he shows more, I'd rather play Parmalee.

I agree, but I would rather play neither at the big league level at this point. If we were to need an everyday first baseman at some point this season, my guess is Parmelee would get the call over Walker.

Parmelee is a decent comp for Walker. Although Walker hit 26 homers last year between AA and AAA, the most Parmelee hit in one season by the time he was Walker's age was 16 as a 21 year-old in Advanced A ball. It is extremely doubtful that Walker will do better in AAA this season than Parmelee did in his age-24 season, with a gaudy .338/.457/.645 line in 64 games with Rochester.

For whatever reason, Parmelee's AAA success hasn't translated to the Majors, hopefully Walker won't have the same fate.

[Redskins Rick]

I agree, but I would rather play neither at the big league level at this point. If we were to need an everyday first baseman at some point this season, my guess is Parmelee would get the call over Walker.

Parmelee is a decent comp for Walker. Although Walker hit 26 homers last year between AA and AAA, the most Parmelee hit in one season by the time he was Walker's age was 16 as a 21 year-old in Advanced A ball. It is extremely doubtful that Walker will do better in AAA this season than Parmelee did in his age-24 season, with a gaudy .338/.457/.645 line in 64 games with Rochester.

For whatever reason, Parmelee's AAA success hasn't translated to the Majors, hopefully Walker won't have the same fate.

Good post and I agree with you.

If this was the Orioles of 2006 or the Astros of 2014, then what the heck, you run them out there and see what they can do.

But, contending teams are a tougher lineup to crack through on.