In his Post-Gazette blog yesterday, Bob Smizik offered a post wherein he asked questions pertaining to the performance - the "declining performance" as he put it - of Pirate second baseman Neil Walker. Smizik included the numbers to back up his assertion. I found the article of interest because the very night before, while attending the Pirates - Reds game, Len Martin, Dan Bonk, and I had the very same conversation. "Have we seen the best that Neil Walker has to offer?" was the way we framed the conversation. I copied Smizik's post and posted it on the "Pirate Chat" Facebook page.
Well, that Facebook post created a mini-storm of comments, most of which fell in the "Smizik's-a-jaggoff-so-where-does-he-come-off-criticizing-Neil-Walker" school of thought. However, here are the numbers for Walker thus far in 2012:
.254 BA
.648 OPS
2 HR
17 RBI
Only 10 extra base hits
On a team of under performing offensive players, Walker has certainly been one of them.
Now, I am not giving up on Walker. I think that he can be a solid performer, but that means hitting in the .270 to .280 range, 12-15 home runs and 75 or so RBI's, and he is not performing at that level this year, and you could point out that this decline began in the latter half of the 2011 season.
Perhaps there is a reason that the Pirates have not sought to sign him to a long term deal, as they did with Andrew McCutchen.
Here's hoping that he can turn things around. I like the kid. He's hustles, has a great attitude, and he is playing a nice second base. He would be a nice player to have on a good ball club.
Oh, and did I mention that he is from Pittsburgh. Would the criticism of Walker be heightened (and the criticism of Smizik lessened) if Walker had been born and raised in, say, Peoria, Illinois instead of Gibsonia, PA?
Just askin'.
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