Walker Promoted, Iwamura Angrily Swings and Misses at Gatorade Cooler

It's finally time to stop seeing Akinori Iwamura start at second base. The red hot Neil Walker has been called up and has joined the team in Cincinnati. I never thought I would be this excited about him again, but his play has warranted some hype.



In 43 games with the AAA Indianapolis Indians this year, Walker hit .321/.392/.560 with 18 doubles, 2 triples, 6 home runs, and 26 RBI. He also stole 10 bases and scored 25 runs. He has been the best overall player on a team that has been very competitive in their league. Walker is excited and feels he is more ready now than ever before to make an impact in the major leagues. This would be one heck of a story if he could find comfort at second base and establish himself there for years to come.

The most positive thing about this call up is probably the fact that Iwamura's .163 average will now be on the bench (or even better, on another team). It was a waste of almost 5 million dollars for the Pirates, but this move had to be made.

While we don't know what Walker is going to do with the bat in the majors, it is almost a sure thing that he will be a significant upgrade defensively over Iwamura, who has looked terrible there all year long. Neil just started playing second this year, but has adapted incredibly fast just as he did at third base. The guy has natural defensive ability and can play almost everywhere. He is a better emergency catcher option than Jeff Clement (who could be the next one on the way out of Pittsburgh once Pearce comes off the DL), and can play third and the corners of the outfield.

He could very well be the starting 2nd baseman in tonight's game against the Reds, and if he is that alone is reason to watch the game.

As they say in Japan, " いくらかのベンチをつかんでください ", grab some bench Aki.