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Pittsburgh Pirates: Constructing the Franchise’s All-Offense Line Up
By Noah Wright
Second Base Neil Walker
Neil Walker was a consistently good batter for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first half of the 2010 decade, leads in many offensive categories, and doesn’t get much credit for it. Although he was a rookie and wouldn’t receive regular playing time until 2010, he did make his debut in 2009.
Throughout his Pirates’ tenure, Walker batted for a .273/.338/.431 line, 93 home runs, and a 113 OPS+/114 wRC+. From 2010-2015, Walker had hit for a .273/.338/.433 line. His 115 wRC+ in the first half of the 2010s was the 4th highest in baseball. Only Robinson Cano, Ben Zobrist and Dustin Pedroia, three very notable names, ranked higher than him. He also ranked 4th behind the aforementioned trio in OPS and 6th in wOBA at .337.
Among Pirates’ pure second basemen, Walker has the best wRC+ in at least 2500 plate appearances. Technically, George Grantham passes him, but Grantham also played a decent amount of first base with the Pirates.
Walker’s .336 wOBA is only passed by Claude Ritchey, and Dots Miller. But like with Grantham, Miller played a lot of games at first base. Only Bill Mazeroski passes Walker in home runs at 138, but Walker’s 93 is still more impressive considering that Maz played more than double the amount of time with the Pittsburgh Pirates than Walker did. Walker also leads all Pirates in OPS. Walker is the only Pirates’ second basemen in history to win a silver slugger. Walker might be one of the most underrated batters in Pirates history considering that he was consistently a good batter throughout his career, and doesn’t get much recognition for it.