Sources told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Friday that free agent first baseman Christian Walker and the Astros are moving closer to an agreement, although no deal has been reached yet. The club has not confirmed that discussions are ongoing.

Walker, 33, has quietly established himself as one of the game’s best first basemen over the past three seasons, combining strong performance at the plate with elite glove work.

The right-handed slugger ranks fifth among primary first basemen with 11.4 WAR (per Baseball-Reference) since the start of 2022, recording 95 home runs, 281 RBIs and an OPS of .813 (123 OPS+) across 1,880 plate appearances, leading the position with an 38 outs above average in that span.

Without a left oblique strain that kept him out of action for more than a month in 2024, Walker likely would have reached the 30-homer plateau for the third straight season. He finished 130 games for the D-Backs with 26 dingers and 84 RBIs.

A late bloomer, Walker took a long time to break into the majors after making his debut with the Orioles in 2014. He played just 13 games for Baltimore before switching teams via waivers three times in less than five weeks in 2017, from the Orioles to the Braves to the Reds to the D-Backs.

Walker finally got a chance to earn regular playing time after Arizona traded longtime first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to the Cardinals in December 2018, and he responded with 29 home runs and an .824 OPS in 152 games in 2019.

After another solid performance in the shortened 2020 season (.792 OPS), Walker slipped to a .697 OPS the following year with just 10 homers in 115 games, missing time with a right-sided strain. However, he bounced back in 2022, hitting 36 home runs with an .804 OPS and winning his first career Gold Glove Award.

Walker won another Gold Glove in 2023, hitting 33 homers with an .830 OPS in 157 games during the regular season before helping Arizona to a surprising trip to the World Series.