Growing up as a kid from Pittsburgh who loved to play and watch baseball, it was always a dream of mine to put on that Pirate uniform and take the field for my hometown team. If you ask any kid around the country who plays baseball, I’m sure they’d agree that playing for their hometown team would be a dream come true. By playing for the team that was located in your city and the team that you grew up watching would be a life changing experience. Everyone wants to be that “hometown hero” and get that shot. Well we are lucky enough to be in a city that has living proof of that.
Neil Walker who grew up in the North Hills and went to Pine Richland High School is now the second basemen for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the first round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft, the Pirates selected Walker as a catcher and that’s where his journey to hometown hero began.
After three seasons of learning and progressing in the minor leagues, Neil started getting some recognition by scouts, and he was rated the 74th best prospect in baseball in 2007. That put him 3rd in the Pirates organization behind Andrew McCutchen and Brad Lincoln. That year walker was converted from catcher to third baseman because there was a bigger whole at third base for the Buccos than there was at catcher. Then in 2008, Walker was promoted to AAA, and for the Indians he batted .242 with 16 homeruns and 80 runs batted in.
On September 1st, 2009, Neil Walker became the envy of every Pittsburgh area baseball player. He got to put on that Pirate jersey for the first time at the major league level. But that call-up was just for the typical September call-up that allows to Major League teams to expand their roster for the last month of the season. The next spring training as he was tearing it up for the Indianapolis Indians, he got the call that sent him back to Pittsburgh. He made his first start on May 25th, 2010 at third base. But there seemed to be uncertainty as to where Walker would fit in on the roster with their everyday starter, Andy LaRoche, being healthy and playing fine. So with Akinori Iwamura struggling at the second base position, Manager John Russel decided to give Walker a shot there. Second base was a kind of an unknown position to Walker as he only made 23 starts there throughout his entire career. The rest is really becoming history.
Walker has turned into one of the best all-around second baseman in the league with a career batting average of .280, 38 homers, and 218 runs batted in. After being moved from catcher to third basemen to even a stint in the outfield, he has rounded out well at second base. He has learned from one of the all-time greats in Bill Mazeroski about positioning and the flip when turning two. His fielding isn’t great, but it is still way above par for all the trials and tribulations he’s been through with all his positions.
Walker has grown into a household name in baseball cities around the world, and now most of the people in Pittsburgh know who he is even if they aren’t a baseball fan. On your way to a baseball game at PNC Park you’ll see shirt vendors selling t-shirts with his number on the front and the back, but the name on the back doesn’t read Walker, it reads “Pittsburgh Kid.” He really is the epitome of a hometown hero, the way he represents the city with the way he plays. Walker doesn’t settle for failure, he gives his all at the plate and with the glove. He’ll make the play and stay in there taking a hit when he’s at second base making the play. That’s just what Pittsburghers do. We take one for the team, and we’ll do anything to improve the time and our chances of winning. As the hometown hero, Pittsburgh Kid, or just Neil Walker – whatever you want to call him – he’s making himself and his city look good.
Photo Credits: Wall Street Journal
