Major League Baseball

Mets Season in Review: Neil Walker

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 12:12 a.m. ET

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Fansided, Vincent Perricone/FanSided via Rising Apple

With his arrival to New York last offseason, Neil Walker always seemed to be correlated to the play and image of Daniel Murphy.

While he made a clear name for himself in his many seasons in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, Walker had very big shoes to fill while he was manning second base in Flushing.

Fans have short memories, and if you produce, they’ll love you.

That being said, Neil Walker was coming into a situation that saw a lifelong Met, after one of the greatest postseasons in MLB history, being shown the door. While he was never a good defensive player, Daniel Murphy was always the great teammate.No matter what position hewas asked to play, he played it. No matter where in the batting order he was asked to hit, he hit there.

What we saw from Murphy in the postseason though, it had to be luck, right? No way he could continue that scorched earth policy of hitting, and hitting bombs at will.  We even saw him cool off drastically during the World Series, which gave some credence to Murphy becoming the player he always was; an above-average hitter with a below-average glove.

So after declining his qualifying offer of $15.8 million for the 2016 season, he became a free agent, and the Mets pursued their new second basemen, who when healthy, produce really well, too.

How He Fared in 2016

Being acquired on December 9th, 2015 for Jon Niese, Walker had some of his best offensive numbers with the Mets last season. Though he only played in 113 games because of injury, he was obviously jealous of pretty much every other Mets starter that also missed time due to injuries.

In only 113 games, Walker tied his career high in home runs with 23 (also in 2014 through 137 games). His batting average was .282, which was the highest since the 2010 season (.296 through 110 games). His slugging percentage (.476 percent) and on-base plus slugging (.823 percent) were the highest of any season throughout his career as well.

Another number that was particularly high were his walks. Through 113 games, Walker walked 42 times, only two times lower than last season through 38 less games and 145 less plate appearances (consider that to 2011, which featured 54 walks trough 159 games, his most in a season).

Whether it’s right or wrong, the correlation between Walker and Murphy will probably be around the entire tenure of Walker’s Mets career. No matter how well, or poorly he plays, you’ll always have his numbers compared to that of Murphy’s. While Walker does fit the Mets well and played well offensively last season, Murphy was Ruth-esque.

Areas to Improve Upon

Two areas Walker needs to improve upon are his strikeouts, and usage of the entire ballpark.

Starting with the strikeouts, Walker was K’d 84 times through 113 games (412 at-bats), compared to 110 K’s, which is still a very high number, through 543 at-bats in 2015.

We saw Walker’s power numbers go through the roof last year and unless you’re Joe DiMaggio, you are going to strike out more when you swing for the fences. It’s just a fact. Walker needs to limit those strikeouts, but if he’s hitting 30 home runs a year, I guess you could live with them.

As for utilizing the entire ballpark, we saw a huge dip in his doubles last year. For the first time in Walker’s career, he did not hit the double digits mark when it came to doubles (9 in 2016). In fact, the lowest amount of doubles he’s had in a full season were 24 he smacked in 2013 (through 133 games).

Even though he tied a career high in home runs last year with 23, he only mustered 55 RBI’s, his lowest since 2013 (53 RBI’s). The years he’s had at least 25 doubles, he always had over 60 RBI’s. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

If Walker could limit the strike outs, that alone would probably change his batting style and he’ll pull the ball down the line more. The result would be a lot more doubles, and more runs batted in.

Projected Role in 2017

Coming off of a lumbar microdiscectomy, Walker is projected to be healthy for spring training.

Obviously penciled in as the starting 2nd baseman, we could see Walker in a variety of slots in the batting order.

Personally, I believe he would be best utilized in the 2 hole for the sheer reason of being able to get on base and having La Potencia bat behind him. If Walker could continue his success from last year, and stay healthy, it should be a very strong offensive season from him.

As for defense, the Mets ranked as the 7th best fielding team at that position (.987 percent) Walker’s fielding percentage was just a tad off of that (.986 percent) for the entire season with 7 errors committed (tying last season through 146 games at 2nd).

Never hitting 10 errors throughout a season, Walker is a breath of fresh air defensively at that position.

Contract Status and Trade Rumors

Accepting the Mets qualifying offer of 1 year and $17.2 million, it’s a bit of a risk if you look at it from an endurance standpoint.

If Walker is healthy, he will produce both offensively and defensively. Especially in a contract season coming up, Walker will want to sign a long term deal in the offseason.

He’s a very good fit for New York because of his intangibles. Being a very good defender and adding some power to the top of the order, New York will have some thumpers in the lineup this year.

As for trade rumors, the only way I could see the Mets dealing Walker, or even listening to offers, is if something goes wrong and they don’t pan out this year. That being said, I don’t expect that to happen.

Look for New York to come to a long term deal either during the season, or after, depending on the health and production of Walker.

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