Keith Law, The Athletic:
"The Houston Astros drafted Walker Janek with the 28th pick. Janek has emerged as the top catcher in the class, which may be damning with faint praise but also reflects the fact that he’s mashed and has shown he can stick behind the plate. He jumped to a .364/.476/.709 line this year for the Bearkats, finishing just a thousandth of a point off the Conference USA lead in slugging behind a senior who played for New Mexico State (altitude 3900 feet). It’s a simple gap-to-gap approach with pull power and some ability to go the other way for contact, along with a two-strike approach that sees him focus on putting the ball in play. He has the hands and the arm strength to catch, close to average right now with the chance to be a 55 defender all around with some coaching help, offering the upside of a 20-homer bat at a position where offense is scarce."
Baseball America:"Janek is the top defensive catcher in the 2024 class, and his elite catch-and-throw skills have earned him praise and stymied baserunners since his 2022 freshman season. He made the Western Athletic Conference all-defensive team as a freshman and in 2024 became the Conference USA defensive player of the year while also having a career-best offensive season. A 6-foot, 190-pound catcher, Janek has a typical backstop’s build with plus defensive tools for the position. He receives at a high level and presents the ball with a comfortable and athletic setup—and he’s adept in a one-knee stance. He moves well laterally and has soft, deft hands and centering ability while blocking. He gets rid of the ball quickly and efficiently on his transfers with plus arm strength and consistent 1.85-second pop times in games. He threw out 16 of 31 basestealers (51.6%) and is a lock to stick at the position with plus defensive upside. Janek’s tools are quieter on the offensive side but still solid. He’s got a chance for average pure hitting ability and average power, though he has traditionally been a low-ball, fastball hitter who will flash pull-side power but needs to improve his contact versus secondary pitches. His 2024 season was his loudest. He hit .368/.480/.714 with 17 home runs. Janek is a high-probability big leaguer thanks to his defensive prowess and has a chance to be the first catcher off the board."
MLB.com:"There were three college backstops generally thought to be in first-round conversations and many felt Janek was the best all-round catcher of the bunch. He’s agile behind the plate and has plus arm strength while showing off impressive bat speed and strength from the right side of the plate. After drawing little interest from pro teams or major college programs as a Texas high schooler, Janek has developed into arguably the 2024 Draft's best catching prospect after three years at Sam Houston. His stock surged at the 2023 Karbach Classic, where he went 5-for-13 with a pair of doubles, squared up a 97-mph fastball from Louisiana State's Chase Shores and backpicked a runner. He continued to impress in the Cape Cod League last summer and played his way into first-round consideration this spring while winning the Buster Posey Award as college baseball's top catcher. With impressive bat speed and good strength, Janek creates plus raw power that translates into average game pop with most of his home runs driven to his pull side. While he's an aggressive right-handed hitter who looks to launch balls and frequently chases pitches out of the strike zone, he's showing more patience and doing a better job of using the entire field in 2024. Though he has below-average speed, he runs better than most catchers and will steal bases if opponents don't keep him honest. Conference USA's 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, Janek is agile behind the plate and does a nice job framing pitches. He can get lackadaisical with his receiving, which grades as merely average until he cleans it up. He controls the running game with his plus arm strength and quick release."
USABaseball.com"Walker Janek entered 2024 regarded as one of the top catchers in the country, and has only solidified that distinction with his play this season. He opened the season with a 23-game hit streak, the longest in Sam Houston State history to start a year, and has homered in four consecutive games on two occasions. Offensively, he ranks in the top three in Conference USA in batting average, slugging percentage, home runs, triples and runs scored, and ranks tops in the SHSU career record books in each of those categories among three-year players. But as good as the bat has been, it is on the defensive side where he shines even brighter. Scouts and draft prognosticators alike have raved about his defensive abilities and framing skills, which have him positioned to possibly be the first catcher off the board in July’s MLB Draft. This year, he has almost single-handedly shut down opponent’s running games in 2024, throwing out 14 of 26 attempted swipers as of May 5, with opponents attempting only 13 steals with him behind the plate since March 6."
DraftNation:"Janek attended Gregory-Portland High School in Texas. As a senior, he batted .334 with 6 home runs, 36 stolen bases and 45 RBI. He was named district Offensive Player of the Year and chose to join Sam Houston State following his high school career. As a freshman, Janek slashed .308/.432/.456 (average, on base %, slugging) and hit 7 home runs. 4 doubles and drove in 33 RBI in 51 games. Last season as a sophomore, he improved his slugging a bit with a slash line of .301/.377/.549. He hit 13 home runs and 17 doubles, and was responsible for 65 RBI in 57 games. This season is Janek's junior year. He is expected to improve drastically and is projected as one of the top catchers in the draft.
Strengths: Versatility, Athleticism, Bat-to-Ball Skills
Janek brings some above average bat-to-ball skills at the plate, while also showing average but improving power. His athleticism and solid glove skills give him defensive versatility as he plays catcher as well as a solid third base.
Weaknesses: Inconsistency, Average Arm
Janek has been a bit inconsistent at times, showing streaky power at the plate. He also has an average arm behind the plate which may limit his ability to throw out baserunners consistently as a pro if it does not get stronger. A solid and steady 2024 should help ease these concerns.
Janek is an interesting and versatile prospect with the ability to impact a game in several ways. He's a solid defender at both catcher and third base, though scouts are not sure which position holds a future for him quite yet. At the plate, his pure hitting skill with average power has also drawn attention from scouts. He projects to be a fringe day 1 selection, possibly slipping to early day 2."
ProspectsLive.com (they pegged this pick in their final mock draft):"The Astros have the lowest bonus pool total and it's hard to envision a prep player being the pick here, especially this slot alone is over half of Houston's total pool. Our gut tells us it will likely be one of the college catchers. Janek would be a bit of a surprise since he has suitors higher up on this board, but he'd help Houston save some money if they wanna utilize the most of their money later on."
Prospects Worldwide:
Chandler Rome's article after the pick:Walker Janek’s grandfather, William, loved the Houston Astros. The family is from a suburb of Corpus Christi, home of Houston’s Double-A affiliate for the past 19 years. Janek watched “quite a few” games at Whataburger Field, where the franchise’s future sometimes met its present.
In 2016, Evan Gattis made a rehab appearance and hit an “absolute bomb” with Janek in attendance. He watched Alex Bregman make a mockery of the Texas League and, earlier in his childhood, may have seen Jose Altuve play a game or two. Janek couldn’t remember for certain, a casualty of the chaos consuming his mind late Sunday night.
“I had zero idea who was going to take me. I was kind of stressing out on the couch there,” Janek explained on a video call from his home.
“Once it finally happened, it was a surreal moment. I really think it hasn’t hit me yet. I feel like I’m still in awe.”
Janek’s home-state Houston Astros selected him in the first round of Sunday’s draft, finishing a full-circle moment for the heralded Sam Houston product and reigning Buster Posey Award recipient as college baseball’s top catcher.
Houston had Janek near the top of its draft board after an extensive evaluation that involved area scout Brian Sheffler, general manager Dana Brown watching at least one of his college games, and a pre-draft workout at Minute Maid Park in front of the club’s entire scouting staff.
The Athletic’s Keith Law said Janek “could end up a 20-homer guy with strong on-base skills and plus defense at a critical position.” He ranked Janek No. 23 in his final list of the draft’s top 100 prospects. The Astros nabbed him with pick No. 28.
“He was the top guy on our board for like nine or 10 picks there,” Astros amateur scouting director Cam Pendino said. “We were really, really excited to get him. We did not think he was going to be there, frankly. For him to get all the way down there, we were pumped.”
Slot value for Janek’s selection at No. 28 is $3,132,500. Houston has the sport’s smallest bonus pool after forfeiting its second-round pick by signing Josh Hader this winter. The team won’t make another pick until No. 101 on Monday afternoon.
Team officials lauded Janek for athleticism that allowed him to steal 29 bases across three collegiate seasons and an arm that threw out 31 percent of the runners who tried to steal against him. Senior director of amateur scouting Deric Ladnier called him the best catcher available in the draft.
“His arm (and) his accuracy is as good as I’ve seen in a long time,” Ladnier said. “I don’t want to say he’s the best of all time or anything like that, but his ability, his exchange, his accuracy with his arm, the combination of that with his bat — because he is an offensive-oriented catcher with those traits — he’s someone that I think can get through our organization quickly and help us at the major-league level sooner than later.”
“It’s kind of the perfect storm for us where you get a chance to get a young man who we wanted, who happens to be relatively local to the organization. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Janek slashed .326/.430/.580 across three collegiate seasons. Last summer, he sported an .838 OPS during 130 plate appearances in the prestigious Cape Cod Summer League. Janek struck out just 24 times in 130 plate appearances on the Cape and 138 times in 628 career collegiate at-bats. He slugged 17 home runs as a junior after hitting 20 during his first two seasons combined.
“He always had power and always had some bat-to-ball skills, but the ability for him to shrink the strike zone and know what he handles and be able to look for it was the biggest thing,” Sam Houston coach Jay Sirianni said. “He kind of made the move late last year as a sophomore and then continued all the way throughout the year.”
Offense is appreciated, but the Astros are far more obsessed with their catchers controlling the running game and commanding a pitching staff. Janek threw out 35 of the 148 runners who tried to steal against him in three collegiate seasons.
As a junior, Janek allowed just 14 stolen bases on 31 attempts. His arm became so lethal that Sirianni called just 15 pickoff throws to first base all season, almost daring opponents to take off against Janek’s arm.
“More times than not, when I’d call a pick, it was because I was caught in between pitches. It really was,” said Sirianni, who joked Janek allowed him to call pitches “just to make sure I was staying involved in the game.”
“We never had to worry about the running game. Him being able to get in the same spot with his feet and his hands and be accurate was as good and as easy as I’ve seen it in a long time.”
Pendino said Janek will become “one of the most athletic catchers in professional baseball” once he passes a physical and begins his career. Both Pendino and Ladnier projected the 21-year-old as a rapid mover through the team’s depleted farm system, perhaps shaking up the future of the Astros’ catching situation.
Baseball drafts are not based on organizational needs, but Houston’s choosing a college catcher during Yainer Diaz’s first season as an everyday regular is curious. The team spent all winter hailing Diaz as its catcher of the future and has treated him as such across its first 96 games.
Diaz is under club control through the 2028 season. If Janek develops — and performs — as the Astros anticipate, he could be beyond ready to contribute at the major-league level as an everyday regular.
“The opportunity for us to get this guy, there was no factor as to the fact we have a young catcher,” Ladnier said. “I don’t think you can ever get enough of it. One of the greatest things that organizations are looking for is catching, and this guy immediately will be somebody that will be, in my opinion, coveted by other organizations and obviously he’s very coveted by us.”
Even throughout this season, debate has raged about whether Diaz can stick behind the plate long-term. The Astros’ black hole at first base only reinforces the question. Diaz started seven games at first base last season and has taken groundballs there before games this year.
Upon releasing José Abreu last month, manager Joe Espada acknowledged the club had discussed deploying either Diaz or backup catcher Victor Caratini at first base, but has yet to attempt it in a game. Drafting Janek does not mean Diaz’s days behind the plate are numbered, but the team’s ability to move him around to either first base or designated hitter can’t be overlooked in analyzing this selection.
Janek saw limited action at second base, third base and both corner outfield positions at Sam Houston, but Ladnier and Pendino made it clear that he will stick at catcher as a professional. Janek said he’s caught “for as long as I can remember.”
Next, he’ll do it with the team he — and his grandfather — grew up watching.
“My whole family loves the Astros. My grandpa loves the Astros. He died a couple years ago, so to make this dream come true kind of (goes out) to him,” Janek said. “I know he’d be proud of me. Overall, I’m just super excited and super stoked.”
