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Pirates Moving Walker To Hot Corner

Posted Feb. 16, 2007 2:58 pm by Chris Kline
Filed under: Daily Dish

The Pirates were planning on getting Neil Walker some work in at third base last season, but it took the 11th overall pick in 2004 longer to recover from offseason wrist surgery than expected.

Now that move is official, as Walker began taking ground balls in Bradenton, Fla., today.

The club kept Walker behind the plate for 2006, a season in which the 21-year-old was promoted to Double-A after hitting .284/.345/.403 in 264 at-bats at high Class A Lynchburg.

A stomach virus cut the end of Walker’s season short, causing him to lose nearly 15 pounds and miss the Eastern League playoffs.

At this point, Walker’s bat is more advanced than his receiving skills, and the Pirates would like him to move as quickly as possible.

He’s going to have to learn on the fly, as Walker is expected to be the everyday third baseman at Double-A Altoona this season.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 16, 2007 at 2:58 pm by Chris Kline and is filed under Daily Dish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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5 Comments

My only concern is that learning 3B from scratch won’t necessarily quicken his ascent any more than refining his skills behind the plate. I hope he takes to it and can concentrate on breaking out with the bat in AA this season.

Posted by Walt | February 16, 2007 at 4:45 pm | Shortcut

If Todd Zeile can learn to play 3B…ANYONE can.

Posted by CL1N7 | February 18, 2007 at 5:42 pm | Shortcut

Walker doesn’t need to be all that good over there at third base. He simply needs to be adequate. His bat is what’s going to make him millions, if he gets to that point.

He only needs to avoid being a man without a position, and even then there is the DH factor in the AL.

Posted by Jason A. Churchill | February 18, 2007 at 9:21 pm | Shortcut

Yawn…reminds me of when they moved Chad Hermansen to the outfield. Another poor move by the worst organization in pro sports (besides the Lions and Cardinals in the NFL).

Posted by Bob Nutting | February 18, 2007 at 11:42 pm | Shortcut

Its the bat not the gear that will get Neil to the Big leagues. Paulino has him blocked and there is a huge opening currently at third base in Pittsburg. He is young enough to make the switch and appears to be willing. It is not the end of the world if he becomes a big leaguer at the hot corner. It was nice to see the Pirate owner, Bob Nutting post his comment but he wasn’t around when Chad Hermanson was the Pirate’s next sure thing, that failed.

Posted by Joe Solo | February 24, 2007 at 12:15 pm | Shortcut

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