It wasn’t a great season for Christian Walker, as the Houston Astros were hopeful that the former slugger would be one of the better first basemen in baseball.
Walker has never been an All-Star throughout his career, but he was a consistent top-five player at the position over the past three seasons, even winning three Gold Glove Awards in that span.
In 2025, he arguably had the worst offensive season of his career, posting just a .717 OPS and a 97 OPS+, which were the worst marks of his career in any season in which he’s played more than 37 games.
With the obvious possibility that the Astros could move on from him, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel believes the team could be interested in someone like Kazuma Okamoto, the Japanese slugger from the NPB.
“Okamoto could prove to be a cost-effective alternative to Pete Alonso (who projects for low nine figures) and can point to Yoshida’s $90 million deal as a comp. The Mets, Astros, Yankees, Pirates, Marlins, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks all seem to be in on the first base/designated hitter market to various degrees — and could be looking for a cheaper option than signing Alonso, Kyle Schwarber or Murakami, where Okamoto is the fallback option,” he wrote.
Moving on from Walker this early would be a bit of a surprise from the Astros’ standpoint, but he’s only on a three-year, $60 million contract, so a team might be willing to take that on.
If that happens, someone like Okamoto could make sense.
More Astros News:
