Find out Christian Walker's Thoughts on NLCS and More

Christian Walker, the star first baseman of the Arizona Diamondbacks, has been with the D-backs since 2017. He's seen the team reach highs and the lowest lows and gotten them through it to the team's highest high since 2007. The confident, hard-working, and quiet player is one of the leaders of the D-backs as a veteran player who has experienced a lot in his MLB career, mostly with the D-backs. The Gold Glove defender spoke with the media at his press conference before the NLCS series between the D-backs and the Philadelphia Phillies. Walker had another standout season for the D-backs with a career-high 103 RBI and 30+ home runs.

Over five games in the postseason so far, Walker has continued to be excellent for the young and hungry D-backs. He's hit .294/.435/.588/1.023 with four runs, two doubles, a home run, five RBI, four walks, and five strikeouts so far. Plus, his defense has continued to be stellar and helped prevent any errors at first base from happening.

Christian Walker grew up outside of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. He was a Phillies fan growing up and an Eagles fan. Walker went to plenty of games at Citizen's Bank Park. He spoke on that experience and the energy saying " 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."

When asked if growing up around Philly will help him handle or know what to expect for the atmosphere for Game One on Monday, he said "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. But, yeah, I think there's a way to harness it and let it excite you without it unraveling the execution."

If you've followed the D-backs for a while, you know how close Walker is to his mom and how every time the team plays in Pennsylvania, she makes her homemade meatballs for the team. Walker and his family have always been big baseball fans, especially his dad who "had the vision before I did" for him being capable of making a career in baseball as a player. His dad "narrowed the focus" when walker just loved playing sports and competing. His favorite player growing up was Ryan Howard.

As for if his mom is making any pasta or homemade Italian food for the team, he said "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."

When he was a teenager, he had a chance to play in a high school Home Run Derby in which Bryce Harper was also a competitor. Although, Harper hit a 500-foot home run, Walker won the Derby. Speaking on that, Walker thought it was "super cool" because "it was one of the first times" he got recognized on a "national level...because of the hype around Harper." He competed against Harper in numerous tournaments and actually played with his older brother Bryan at South Carolina where he went to college.

Mentioned above about his dad as the guy who realized how talented Walker is and the one who got him on the path to the MLB, Walker spoke on his late father and the motivation that he is giving him.

"I think about him constantly. Just in general in my career...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."

The Phillies have noticed the D-backs increasing level of team confidence and the fact they believe in each other so much. JT Realmuto spoke on that to Jack Sommers which you can read here. Christian Walker spoke that and how the team has built that confidence. He said that the early success of the season made it "easy to buy into ourselves...we were exactly who we thought we were to start the year." Then, when the team endured injuries and struggles around the All-Star Break and early August, the team's confidence started to wain and "the dynamic changed...we had to figure out how to get this thing back on track."

He said that there wasn't any one singular moment or event that kick-started the team again or got their mojo back but that it was a "slow progression...part of how organically it was all happening."

Walker and the team "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." He continued that by saying "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."

Walker and Zac Gallen grew up in the same area and Walker has taken notice of just how important he is to the team, but knew he was special as soon as the team acquired him. He said "I realized how serious he was and the attention to detail and the intent. He feels like a mad scientist out there." Walker continued saying that he keeps seeing Gallen "mature. I see the innings where maybe one run turned into two or three...these days it's one run."

When asked about Corbin Carroll and if he teases him about just how easy he makes this game look, Walker said, "Corb, he is so humble. He laughs and shrugs it off. He's a good teammate. He's a good guy. He's mature.You know, he knows what he's capable of. It's not an accident. I think this is just the beginning for Corb."