The 100 Greatest Colorado Rockies: 79 Todd Walker
We continue our look at the top 100 Colorado Rockies of all time in this article. Here, we look at No. 79 on our list, Todd Walker.
Todd Walker is one of the best second baseman in Colorado Rockies franchise history and that feat took less than two seasons. DJ LeMahieu wasn’t the first former LSU Tiger to win the College World Series and play second base for the Rockies. Walker was on the 1993 National Championship team. He was the College World Series Most Outstanding player that year. He was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.
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That elite college play led him to the 8th pick of the first round of the 1994 draft by the Minnesota Twins. He made his debut in 1996 and became the starting second baseman in 1998. He hit .316 that year but started the 2000 campaign slowly and he was traded to Colorado.
Walker picked up his play in Denver hitting .316 in 57 games with the Rockies as opposed to .234 in 27 games with the Twins. Along with Todd Helton, Jeffrey Hammonds, Larry Walker, Jeff Carrillo and more, Walker was part of one of the best offensive clubs in Rockies history. He and Neifi Perez made one of the first memorable duos up the middle in the early years of the franchise.
The next season was the best in Walker’s Rockies career as he played 151 games and batted .296 with twelve home runs. The Rockies were in last place that year and was part of the large fire sale. Brett Mayne, Chose Figgins, Neifi Perez, Pedro Astacio, among other were traded. Walker was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Alex Ochoa. The Reds won that trade as Walker continued to have great success.
Walker was one of the first signings of the Theo Epstein era in Boston in 2003 but he only played one year with the Red Sox so he never won a championship. He also played for the Cubs, Padres and A’s. From 2013 to 2015 Walker coach baseball in Louisiana.
Walker’s jersey at LSU is set to be retired in April this year. The next time you think of a great Rockies second baseman from LSU, don’t forget Todd Walker.
Check out the previous story in this list about number 80 Jeffrey Hammonds here.
