NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 15, 2023

Christian Walker

Citizens Bank Park

Arizona Diamondbacks

Workout Day Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Christian Walker.

Q. Christian, I wonder if you could share, what are your favorite all-time postseason games that you have watched from this ballpark, either in the stands or on TV at home?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: To be honest, the World Series moments, the last pitch. I used to have it as the background on my phone through high school.

But what I remember the most about that time is just the energy, the energy of the city. It's what you see on TV when you watch these games. It's one of the few stadiums and atmospheres you can feel the excitement through the TV.

Growing up a Philadelphia fan, the Eagles games kind of have that vibe. You take pride in there being that energy in the stands. I think that's what I take from it the most is just the overall excitement of the city. I remember kids wanting to take off of high school for the parade and stuff like that, so, yeah, it's a cool city to advance in for sure.

Q. Can you share a bit about your family story and what it was that brought you into baseball in terms of parents being connected to the game and what the game means to your family?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Yeah, absolutely. I grew up just playing a bunch of sports, everything I could. Football, basketball, baseball, all that.

As I got to high school, it narrowed down to pretty much baseball only. Still loved the other sports, but my dad, you know, he had the vision before I did, for sure. I was just a young kid who loved playing sports, loved competing. But he kind of narrowed the focus.

It became clear pretty quickly that I had a chance to play at a good college program and travel around and continue the dream of playing. Next thing you know I was at South Carolina, had an opportunity to win there. That was a lot of fun. Got a taste of winning early.

It's been a cool journey. Obviously I grew up close to this area. Gallen and I both. I came to a handful of games here and there. It was a lot of watching on TV, but yeah, proud to be from this area for sure.

Q. Christian, your mom has always played a big role when the team visits here. She usually cooks for the team, the famous meatballs. Is mom playing a role this time around as well? Any meals for the team?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Nothing planned yet. Maybe something potentially Tuesday, maybe a get-away situation. Yeah, this time around, I felt like it was probably smart to narrow the focus and stay locked in on baseball.

It's great having the home cooking, but it felt like something else to focus on a little bit. So really want to make sure everybody was locked in. She was just in Phoenix when we clinched, so selfishly we had an off day that I got her to cook some pasta for me there.

Q. What is the focus now before really the biggest games of most people's career inside that locker room?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Yeah, I think now is the epitome of sticking together. Not a lot of us have been here. It's unchartered territory to some extent. It's exciting. It's fun, but it's cool to look around and see the excitement in your teammates' faces.

The motivation and all that, it's easy at this point in the year. You're putting the team first. It's win at all costs. Your personal numbers are all aside. It doesn't matter.

I think there's something special to that. The mentality is showing up. You get to the field at 1:00, and it's how are we going to win tonight? It's a lot of fun.

The long season, the 162 is you're playing the long game. You're trying to be smart over six months, and this is about winning today. It's a much different dynamic. Very excited to be here with my teammates.

Q. A lot is made of the stadium, how tough of an environment it is to play in. Do you think growing up around here will help you guys sort of handle the atmosphere better or know what to expect tomorrow night and Tuesday?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Yeah, I think it's a combination of things. Obviously you won't know for sure until you're in it and you feel it. But my personal stance on it coming in is I'm going to try to harness it. It's going to be a lot of energy. It's no secret. It's for the Phillies, but also there's a certain buzz in the air. It's hard to explain.

Dodgers Stadium is a really cool environment as well. If you're not careful, the momentum can switch there pretty quickly. We're familiar with that a little bit. Each stadium is different and the time of the year is unique. But, yeah, I think there's a way to harness it and let it excite you without it unraveling the execution.

Q. You won a Home Run Derby in high school where Bryce Harper hit a 500-foot home run. What do you remember about that, and how much did that mean to you as a kid to win that?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Yeah, that was super cool. That was one of the first times getting recognized for me on more of a national level. Most of it was because of the hype around Harp. Him and I have been competing against each other for a while. I feel like we were always somehow crossing paths in travel tournaments and stuff, and then the Home Run Derby. I ended up playing college ball with his older brother, Bryan.

So we've been in some similar circles for a while now. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Any time I can compete against a guy like Bryce and challenge myself against the best talent there is, it's an opportunity. Yeah, I was fortunate to have that chance.

Q. About your dad, what kind of influence was he, and how much do you -- you know, you're coming home. You're four away from the World Series. How much do you think about him in moments this in your life?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: I think about him constantly. Just in general in my career over the last handful of years and getting this opportunity, I spent a good amount of time in the Minor Leagues, and the Big League success was unclear for a while. I do think about him constantly. I think he would love this more than anybody.

You know, just another layer of motivation, another layer of digging deep and just making it all worth it. I know he is proud looking down and all that, but yeah, it's cool to be back in the area. I think my family feels that. It's cool to share this moment with them.

Q. J.T. Realmuto said earlier the most daunting thing about the Diamondbacks is how much confidence the team is playing with. Can you speak to how that confidence developed over the course of the season and to get you guys to this point?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Yeah, there's two moments there for me that I think of. The early success in the first half. I think that was initially it was, like, easy to buy into ourselves. Everything was clicking into place. We were exactly who we thought we were to start the year.

Coming out that middle stretch around the All-Star break it changed. The dynamic changed. The box scores were different and we were put in a position where we had to figure out how to get this thing back on track.

I've talked about it before. It wasn't really like one thing or one moment or one hitters' meeting or anything like that. It was a slow progression, and I think that that was part of how organically it was all happening.

We were aware of what was going on, and we knew that it was going to change. It was just a matter of weathering the storm. That was the second thing.

I think to have the early success and buy into ourselves and see what we were capable of and then to have to overcome something, the adversity in our face. When you come out on the other side of something like that, it's that much easier to buy into it and to be excited and try to realize maybe what contributed to it or maybe what didn't help pull yourself out of it.

There's always an angle to learn something or help the team grow. I think that speed bump there was big for us.

Q. With Zac Gallen, how have you seen him develop since the club acquired him a few years ago.

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Pretty immediately it was clear that he was a dominating force on the field. I didn't know much about him when we traded for him, but very quickly I realized how serious he was and the attention to detail and the intent. He feels like a mad scientist out there sometimes with the way he sees things and finds spots to make a pitch and the execution.

As far as what he means to this team, it's hard to put into words. You know, we count on him a lot. We rely on him, and I think he likes that. He wants that role.

But, yeah, Zac has been elite for us all year, for the last few years. I keep seeing him mature. I see the innings where maybe one run turned into two runs or three runs. These days it's one run. It's hard to get a run out of that guy.

In those moments sometimes when it feels like things are speeding up, he has the ability to slow the moment down and think back to, you know -- it's hard to say what's going through his head. But to me it looks like he is really breaking down all the preparation and the few days leading up to that start and all the success that he has, it's cool.

Q. Do you have a favorite player on any of those Phillies teams that you watched growing up? Anyone you modelled your game after or anything?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Yeah, I remember those huge homer years that Ryan Howard had. That was cool to me.

I remember it was a name that I hadn't really recognized before, and then all of a sudden he was hitting 40, 50 homers a season and hitting balls out to left field, going oppo. I felt like he kind of rewrote what I knew about power hitting a little bit at that younger age.

I was middle school, high school during that time. You think about the home run hitters, everything was pull side. It was like an all-or-nothing type thing.

I remember seeing him hit balls out to left, go center field. There was a couple multi-homer games where one to left, one to right, one to center, stuff like that.

Yeah, I remember thinking maybe there's a different way to approach this power hitting thing.

Q. You guys have a reputation for being a certain type of offense, but what we've seen here in the postseason has been a little different. What do you make of kind of the power you guys have tapped into where do you feel like it's come from?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Yeah, I think when things feel like they're running on all cylinders, for me as an offense, it's about protecting each other. Knowing that the guy behind you is going to put together a good at-bat and could be dangerous in the eyes of the opponent, you know, they're forced to pick who they're going to go after.

Right now it's not a clear answer on our lineup. Everybody is playing their role really well. Everybody is getting jobs done. People are getting on base.

You know, I like to think when Tommy is up at the plate and they see me on deck, they're picking who do we go after here? I think when everybody is on the same page and we're all doing our job together, it makes it hard for an opposing staff to dissect who the targets are and who we're circling on -- you know, this guy is not going to beat us today. I think we force teams to make decisions.

Q. When you watch this Phillies team, what comes to mind? What do you see?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Yeah, I mean, J.T. mentioned the confidence about us. I would say it's something similar especially here at home for them. They love the crowd. The crowd loves them. Their offense has that nature of -- you know, it's definitely not streaky, but when they're hot, they're hot.

It's a similar dynamic to what we've got going right now. It's like things are going well. It's not a fluke. It's not luck, but we're both playing really, really quality baseball at the moment.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to competing with these guys. We've had some good games against them this year. And it's a great group of guys, and looking forward to battling against them.

Q. Christian, when you talk with Corbin Carroll, do you sometimes tease him at all and say, hey, it's not supposed to make it look like easy to be a five-tool player at this early stage? How does he respond when you guys maybe do that?

CHRISTIAN WALKER: Corb, he is so humble. He laughs and shrugs it off. He's a good teammate. He's a good guy to have around. He's mature.

You know, he knows what he's capable of. It's not an accident. He knows what's in there, and I think this is just the beginning for Corb.

The season he put up regular season-wise over first 162, that's impressive alone. You know, there was a bit of -- not a roller coaster, but there was a down stretch where he had to pull himself out of something and to get back to being the player he knew he was, and he did that.

Now we get to the postseason on the biggest stage, and he's blossoming even more. It's really fun to watch. As a teammate of his, it makes me want to play to that level. It pulls it out of you. It's hard to explain.