2012 Position Previews - Second Base

The Pirates traded Freddy Sanchez in 2009, which left a gaping hole at second base. There was very little in the minor leagues at the time to compensate for the loss, and none of really knew what the Pirates were going to do. At the time, Neil Walker was struggling in the minor leagues and causing people to doubt that he would ever make it to the big leagues. However, Walker made a big turnaround after being switched to second base to possibly fill the void, and now his name is everywhere in extension talks. 2012 is a huge year for Walker, let's take a look at what it'll look like:


Walker's 2011 season was kind of disappointing, but not a lot of people seemed to notice. After a really impressive 2010 rookie campaign (in which he didn't play a full season at the major league level), Walker took a step backwards, losing 54 points in slugging percentage and 23 points in batting average. Despite that, his .273/.334/.408 line was solid for a second baseman, but he had some stretches where he looked lost at the plate. Despite that, you don't find a second baseman that plays 155+ games for you and hits the ball well, so the Pirates certainly have a good player in Walker that they should be looking to keep for the long term (assuming he doesn't regress significantly in 2012).

But what can we expect from Walker this year? Well, he's not exactly young anymore, but I see no reason why he can't improve on last season's numbers. I don't think he's the .296/.349/.462 hitter we saw in 2010 (in fact, I'm sure he's not), but I think he can be better than the .273/.334/.408 he posted last year, he just has to be more consistent.

I think something that might be hurting Walker is where he's been hitting in the batting order. There were 132 games for the Pirates last year in which Walker hit 3rd, 4th, or 5th. He isn't that kind of hitter. In a perfect world, I think Walker would hit 2nd or 6th. He just doesn't have the raw power to hit 4th or 5th and I don't think he hits for good enough average to hit 3rd. He seems to be just below what it takes to hit in those spots, and I think he would excel hitting in front or behind some big time hitters. However, the Pirates don't have many big time hitters, so Walker is forced into that power role.

Walker plays a position where defense isn't incredibly important, but he does need to continue to get better at second base. Offensively, he also has to continue to work to get better, just because the Pirates don't have much else.

Personally, I'm not as high on Walker as a lot of people are, but I'm hoping he proves me wrong. You see my projection up there, which is still pretty good for a second baseman, but I'm hoping he blows well past my numbers and makes me look stupid; that would be a huge lift for the Bucs.

You can read the rest of this series here, or click the links below:
Catcher
First Base
Shortstop
Third Base
Outfield