PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker was named the best defensive first baseman in the National League for the third straight year as he was given a Gold Glove award on Sunday.
This ties Walker with Paul Goldschmidt for the most Gold Gloves by a first baseman in franchise history. Goldschmidt is the only other D-backs first baseman to ever win a Gold Glove, according to MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.
Walker was the only one of Arizona's five Gold Glove finalists to take home the award. The others were catcher Gabi Moreno, left fielder Lordes Gurriel Jr., right fielder Jake McCarthy and second baseman Ketel Marte.
Walker showed his prowess on defense by leading the National League with 13 outs above average, beating the next closest first baseman — Philadelphia's Bryce Harper — by five.
This comes as Walker is set to become a free agent. The D-backs are expected to extend a one-year $21.05 million qualifying offer to Walker. If he declines to sign it and signs with another team, the D-backs will receive a draft pick in compensation.
Since the qualifying offer system debuted in 2012, only 13 of the 131 players who have been offered one have signed, according to MLB.com's Thomas Harrigan.
Walker, who is 33 years old, is considered one of the top free-agent first-basemen and will likely get a hefty contract from the team that signs him.
Other first basemen available on the open market include fellow D-back Josh Bell, Goldschmidt, Pete Alonso from the New York Mets, Anthony Rizzo from the New York Yankees and Carlos Santana from the Minnesota Twins.
The D-backs also have a promising first baseman prospect in their farm system in Ivan Melendez. The former Texas Longhorn, nicknamed "The Hispanic Titanic," is the D-backs No. 23 prospect, according to MLB.com. Last year in 107 games with the D-backs' AA affiliate, the Amarillo Sod Poodles, Melendez hit .238 with 22 home runs and 47 RBIs. He also had a fielding percentage of .992 in 293.2 innings at first base.
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