Top 10 Pittsburgh Pirates Players Of The 2010’s: Numbers 6-10
By Noah Wright
#6 – 2B Neil Walker
Ah, the Pittsburgh Kid. Neil Walker was the team’s primary second baseman from 2010 up to 2015. He was pretty much the ideal consistent batter any team would want. In his Pirates’ tenure Walker batted .273/.338/.433 with 93 home runs, and a 114 OPS+. He never really had an outlier good or bad season with the Pirates. While Walker may never have been known for his defensive ability, he definitely wasn’t awful with a .9 dWAR in his Pirates tenure.
In terms of all time Pirates’ second basemen, Walker has the 5th highest fWAR at 15.4 (2nd highest since 1950). In wRC+, only George Grantham surpasses the switch hitting Walker for the all time Pirates leader. Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski is the only other Pirates second baseman with more home runs than Walker as well with 138.
Among active second basemen from 2010 to 2015, Walker’s 114 wRC+ was surpassed by just three pretty impressive names: Robinson Cano, Ben Zobrist, and Dustin Pedroia. He was easily a top five second baseman of the first half of the 2010’s.
Walker’s Pirate career came to end following the 2015 season when he was traded to the New York Mets. The Walker trade was a disaster for ex-general manager Neal Huntington who received Jon Niese is return. Huntington would later express regret in moving Walker for Niese, instead of the package of prospects he was offered by the Mets.