The South Carolina Gamecock baseball program has a rich history, including two College World Series, as well as several NCAA Regional and SEC titles.
Of course, there are also several Gamecocks competing in Major League baseball as a result. One of the biggest stars is former South Carolina current Houston Astros first baseball Christian Walker. The former Gamecock, who has been in the league over 10 seasons, has been red-hot as a batter all season long for Houston. On the season, he has hit 21 home runs, with a lot of baseball still left to play.
On his career, he has now hit a whopping 195 home runs, which puts him one dinger away from tying South Carolina's Justin Smoak for the Gamecock record. During his career from 2010-2020 with the Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and San Francisco Giants, he had 196. That means Walker needs just one more home run to tie the record.
The next chance for Walker to do so will come on Friday evening, as the Astros take on the Texas Rangers at home. His last home run came on Tuesday, July 28 during a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels
Christian Walker - Houston Astros (21) pic.twitter.com/nGG6xDlbWS
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) July 29, 2026
Walker has been in the league since 2014, starting his career with the Baltimore Orioles who drafted him in the fourth round of the 2012 MLB Draft. He spent just two seasons with the Orioles before going to the Diamondbacks from 2017-2024. He signed a three-year, $60 million deal with the Astros before the 2025 season.
He spent 2010-2012 with the South Carolina Gamecocks, where he helped lead the program to back-to-back CWS titles in 2010 and 2011. They finished as runners up at the CWS in 2012. He finished his Gamecock career with 137 runs batted in, including another 30 home runs.
South Carolina's Kevin Schnall fired up about how Gamecock program is stating to take shape
Add us as a preferred source on Google