Walker leads NL second basemen in home runs
Neil Walker will lead National League second baseman in home runs this season.
The switch-hitter had 21 homers for the Pirates coming into the weekend. That was 10 more than the Philadelphia Phillies’ Chase Utley and St. Louis Cardinals’ Kolten Wong.
Andrew McCutchen led the Pirates with 23 homers, tying him with the Miami Marlins’ Marcell Ozuna for the lead among NL center fielders.
Walker and McCutchen have put the Pirates in position to have two players led the NL in homers at their positions for the first time since 1978 when right fielder Dave Parker went deep 30 times and first baseman Willie Stargell had 28.
The Pirates have pulled off the feat only one other time since the NL expanded for the first time in 1962. That was in 1975 when Parker had 25 homers and center fielder Al Oliver connected 18 times.
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Walker is just the ninth switch-hitting second baseman in major league history to have a 20-homer season, joining Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar, Jim Lefebvre, Carlos Baerga, Jose Vidro, Ray Durham, Mark Bellhorn, Ben Zobrist and Danny Espinosa.
However, Walker will need quite the last-week surge to reach the record of 27 set by Bellhorn in 2002 with the Chicago Cubs and matched by Zobirst in 2009 with the Tampa Bay Rays.
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Left fielder Starling Marte came into the weekend having hit seven home runs in his last 27 games since Aug. 17. That was the most by any Pirates player in that span and also tied with Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Matt Kemp for the most in the NL.
Marte’s power surge has come after he went deep just six times in his first 99 games this season.