Kevin Walker

“I’ve loved baseball ever since I can remember.”

– Kevin Walker1

A relief pitcher most of his career, Kevin Walker played for his only World Series championship team when he appeared in nine regular-season games with the Chicago White Sox in 2005. Standing 6-feet-4-inches tall and weighing 190 pounds, the fiery southpaw was an imposing presence on the mound. Being a relief pitcher is unlike any other position in the sport, according to Walker. “You’re on an island out there. That island is just so different from any position in sports. In basketball you have four other guys out there to help you. In baseball, it is you against that batter, and how you pitch makes all the difference in that moment.” In 14 seasons of professional baseball, Walker spent time with many storied franchises, including the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, and the Colorado Rockies.

Kevin Michael Walker was born on September 20, 1976, in Irving, Texas to Wesley and Judy Walker.2 Wesley was a truck driver for Yellow Freight who worked the midnight-to-8 shift and then coached Kevin and his older brother Doug’s baseball teams all the way up to high school. His mother, Judy, was a homemaker. Both brothers and Kevin’s older sister, Audria, were involved in sports from an early age, and their mother made sure they made it to their practices on time all while managing the household. Kevin seemed destined to be a baseball player. “In school you would get those assignments to write a paper about what you wanted to be and for me it was always a baseball player,” Walker said.3 From the age of 5, he played baseball and wiffleball on the weekends with his older brother and his friends. “My dad was the coach, so me and my brother basically grew up at the ballfield,” Walker said. “Ever since I can remember I was always at the field and baseball was what I wanted to do.”4 Growing up, Kevin was a Texas Rangers fan but wasn’t drawn to them by the typical players you might think. “Pete O’Brien was a first baseman for the Texas Rangers, and I loved watching him play. Of course everyone loved Nolan Ryan, but I was also a fan of Rafael Palmeiro and Juan González,” Walker said.

At Grand Prairie High School, Kevin got to play with his brother for one year when Kevin was a freshman, and his brother Doug was a senior. As a member of the Gophers pitching staff, he played alongside teammate Kerry Wood. “I threw about 86 miles per hour, so I wasn’t really lighting up radar guns. But Kerry was a number one pick in those days so, if we played a doubleheader, scouts would come to see him and then stay and watch me,” Walker said. With Grand Prairie in 1995, he performed well in the playoffs, pitching a no-hitter and hitting a grand slam in the regional quarterfinals. Walker was the pitcher of record in the 4-1 state semifinal loss to the Lubbock Coronado Mustangs.

Walker received multiple college offers his senior year to play baseball. He had already signed to play baseball with the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs. As luck would have it, the majors came calling before he ever got the chance to play college baseball.

Walker was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the sixth round of the 1995 amateur draft. He was signed by the team on June 13, 1995. Reflecting on his choice to go pro as opposed to staying in college, Walker said, “I thought that I would do everything I could to get there. I didn’t go to college then, but I don’t regret the decision I made.” He spent his first season with the rookie-level Arizona League Padres. He made 12 starts in 13 games, finishing with a record of 5-5 and a 3.01 ERA.

In 1996 Walker combined to go 5-6 with a 4.61 ERA in 14 games between the Pioneer League (Rookie) Idaho Falls Braves and the Clinton LumberKings of the Class-A Midwest League. With the Braves he started one game before being moved up to the LumberKings.

In 1997 Walker continued to pitch for the LumberKings. He pitched 110⅔ innings while making 19 starts. He finished the season with a 6-10 record and a 4.88 ERA.

In 1998 Walker went a combined 13-7 over 136 innings pitched and started 24 games between the LumberKings and the high Class-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the California League. Walker won six consecutive starts between June 14 and July 12, finishing second in the San Diego organization in victories with an ERA of 3.84.

Walker spent 1999 with Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, working out of the bullpen for much of the season and earning four saves. In 2000 he moved up to the Mobile Bay Bears of the Double-A Southern League. Before the season, he was ranked as the number-14 prospect in the Padres’ minor-league system by Baseball America. Walker was called up by the Padres on April 13 after pitching in four games for Mobile.

Walker made his major-league debut on April 14, 2000, at home against the Houston Astros. He entered the game in the sixth inning, relieving Will Cunnane after the Astros had scored two runs. Walker walked a batter, then gave up a grand slam to Jeff Bagwell. “My parents had flown in, and I was nervous. It’s a packed Qualcomm Stadium, and I’m not throwing anything else but fastballs, and I gave up a grand slam,” Walker said in the 2024 interview. “I remember distinctly getting booed off the field. I felt terrible, but that is where I give a lot of credit to (Padres manager) Bruce Bochy. He could tell it was eating at me and he put me back in two games later and I had a one-two-three inning in relief. That took a lot of the pressure off me.” Calling Bochy the best manager he has ever played for, Walker said. “He treated everyone really well and made them feel like a valuable part of the team. He cared about who you were and wanted to see you maximize your potential as a ballplayer.” Walker took Bochy’s philosophy to heart. He finished the season with a 7-1 record and a 4.19 ERA. His 70 game appearances ranked second behind the Chicago White Sox’ Kelly Wunsch (83) and were the second most in Padres’ history for a rookie with no prior major-league experience since Larry Hardy accomplished the feat in 1974 with 76. Walker also recorded a career-high four strikeouts on August 29, 2000, against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field.

In his second season with the Padres, Walker was limited to 16 games in 2001 because of problems with his left elbow. He underwent Tommy John surgery at Anaheim Memorial Hospital performed by Dr. Lewis Yocum and Dr. Jan Fronek. In the 16 games he appeared in, Walker retired 12 of the first 17 batters he faced, stranded five of six inherited runners, and did not allow a run in 14 of the 16 appearances. In 2001 Walker met his future wife, Aimee, who was a ball girl for the Padres while playing softball at Point Loma Nazarene University. “She would play catch with players, and she was a babysitter for Phil Nevin, who was a player for San Diego and a friend of mine,” Walker said. They were married in January of 2003.

After the successful surgery, Walker was reactivated by the San Diego Padres on August 8, 2002. On August 9 he worked the sixth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds. After allowing a double to Todd Walker, he settled in, striking out Aaron Boone and Ken Griffey Jr. before allowing Todd Walker to score on a wild pitch and giving up a double to Adam Dunn, who scored on Austin Kearns’ single.5 It was his first appearance in the major leagues since May 21, 2001. Walker pitched only two games before being placed on the disabled list with tendinitis in his left elbow, and didn’t return until September 1, after rehab stints with the Pacific Coast League Portland Beavers and the Lake Elsinore Storm of the California League.

Walker missed most of the 2003 season recovering from a strained left elbow, pitching in only 11 games. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list, then the 60-day disabled list,6 was optioned to Portland on June 9, and was recalled on August 29.

A week before the 2004 season opened, Walker was claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants. After making five relief appearances for the Giants, he was optioned to the Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League. Walker pitched in 48 games for the Grizzlies, earning one save. He was released by the Giants after the season.

Walker signed with the White Sox on November 23, 2004. He spent much of the 2005 season with the Charlotte Knights of the International League. He had two stints with the White Sox – from May 9 to June 1 and from June 30 to July 10. His final appearance for the White Sox was on July 9, against the Oakland A’s at US Cellular Field. Walker replaced Shingo Takatsu in the top of the ninth inning with Bobby Crosby on first and no outs. Walker gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Eric Chávez, increasing the Athletics’ lead to 10-1. Walker settled down after the home run to coax Bobby Kielty into a groundout before striking out Eric Byrnes and getting Nick Swisher to ground out to end the inning.

Walker attributed much of the success of the 2005 White Sox to their pitching staff, both starters and bullpen. “When you can get seven-plus innings and 15 or more wins out of everyone in that rotation, it is truly incredible. There is just nowhere in that rotation that you could find a weakness,” he said. “The use of analytics and information in today’s game has killed the (complete-game) pitcher. 2005 might have been teetering on the edge of the last of those long-term, complete-game pitchers.”

Walker remains one of a unique club of players who were part of the team but did not play in the division series, championship series, or World Series and still got a ring. Reflecting on that unique status, he said, “I only played a couple of months for the White Sox, and did not make the postseason roster.” He added, “I believe the rings were designed by owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s wife. They were incredibly beautiful, and I was fortunate enough to get one. Jerry Reinsdorf wanted every player who had been part of the team to get one, since it had been 88 years since the White Sox had won a World Series.” When asked if he ever wore it, he said, “No, but I still have the ring in a safe at home.”

Walker was released by the White Sox on October 3, the day after the regular season ended. He signed a minor-league contract with the Texas Rangers on November 6. He attended 2006 spring training as a nonroster invitee, then spent the season with the Oklahoma City RedHawks of the Pacific Coast League. He pitched in 46 games, starting five, earned two saves, and finished with a 4.63 ERA and a record of 6-5.

After the 2006 season, Walker became a free agent once more and was signed by the Houston Astros to a minor-league contract on January 4, 2007,7 but was released on April 3. Walker began the 2007 season with the Camden River Sharks of the independent Atlantic League, going 4-1 with a 1.74 ERA before signing with the Colorado Rockies on June 14.8 Walker spent the rest of the season with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the Pacific Coast League. (4-6, 5.31). Released after the season, he pitched in three games in the winter of 2007-2008 for the Guasave Algodoneros (Cotton Growers) of the Mexican Pacific Winter League.

For the 2008 season, Walker re-signed with the Camden River Sharks. This proved to be his last season as a player in professional baseball. Walker appeared in 14 games for the River Sharks, finishing the season with a 2-2 record and a 6.37 ERA.

Over the course of his 14-year career, Walker appeared in 122 major-league games over six seasons, compiling a 7-3 record with a 4.76 ERA. He finished his career with 102 innings pitched, gave up 84 hits and walked 63 while striking out 95 batters. Asked to reflect on his career, Walker said, “I am super grateful for the time I got. This is something I thought about since I was a kid writing papers about what I wanted to be when I grew up. Through my career as a pitcher, I was able to achieve my dream of playing professional baseball.”

After the 2008 season, Walker became a pitching coach in the Boston Red Sox farm system. He began with the short-season Class-A Lowell Spinners in 2009. That season’s Spinners pitchers led the New York-Penn League with 638 strikeouts and ranked second in the league with a franchise-best 2.96 ERA.9 Walker continued to work his way through the Red Sox farm system as a pitching coach for the Class-A Greenville Drive (2010), Class-A Salem Red Sox (2011-2014), Double-A Portland Sea Dogs (2015-2017), and the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox (2018-2019). Coaching with kids and schedules to juggle can be difficult. Fortunately for Walker, his wife, Aimee, told him, “You go coach, and I’ll do the rest.”

Walker has fond memories of his time in the Red Sox minor-league system. “My wife had gotten her teaching credentials, and we were able to travel while I coached, and she homeschooled our kids. I hope that my kids, Kamryn and Brady, will look back on that time and be thankful for the experience that they had,” he said. It certainly appears as though his daughter Kamryn has fond memories. “She tells people that she got to field grounders with Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts or play catch with Christian Vázquez. People think she is joking, but they forget that those guys came up through that system,” Walker said.

On October 31, 2019, Walker was named the assistant pitching coach for the Red Sox. On November 20, 2020, he was promoted to bullpen coach, where he remained through the 2024 season.

Walker’s favorite memory as a Red Sox bullpen coach was the 2021 one-game wild-card playoff between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees in Fenway Park on October 5, 2021. Before a sellout crowd of 38,324, the Red Sox sailed to victory on a Xander Bogaerts home-run blast that traveled 427 feet over the center-field fence in the first inning. Bogaerts continued that magic in the field after gunning down Aaron Judge at home plate to block a Yankees comeback attempt in the sixth inning. Nathan Eovaldi pitched strong into the sixth inning, giving up four hits while striking out eight. After Garrett Whitlock coaxed Gleyber Torres to pop up and end the game, the Red Sox bench and bullpen emptied as the speakers played “Dirty Water” and the players made their way to the pitcher’s mound to celebrate the 6-2 win.10 “Gerrit Cole vs. Nate Eovaldi. It was the loudest, most electric game I had ever been a part of,” recalled Walker. “When we play the Yankees it’s a different level. That ’21 game was unbelievable. The fans never sat down for one pitch, and Eovaldi was an incredible big-game pitcher.”

Because baseball was a part of Kevin Walker’s life from the beginning, it should come as no surprise that sports have been a significant part of their family life since he and Aimee were married in 2003. Both Kamryn and Brady have been involved in sports from a very early age. “I wouldn’t know how to raise the kids without sports being a part of it,” Walker said.11

After the Red Sox missed the postseason for the third straight year and finished third in the AL East with a record of 81-81, the team parted ways with Walker and five other coaches in October of 2024.12

As of November 2024, Walker was looking for his next post in baseball. “I’ve been in contact with some clubs, but I’ve also thought about building my own program in college. I’m not sure what the future holds, but I am open to all opportunities,” he said.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Ancestry.com, Baseball-Reference, Retrosheet, Baseball Almanac, Stats Crew, and the Kevin Walker player file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Kevin Walker for taking the time for an interview. Thanks to the Boston Red Sox organization and Sarah Coffin, Rachel Wells at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as Pat Scheller and Holly Scheller. In memory of Greg Fowler.

Notes

1 Kevin Walker, interview with author, November 25, 2024. Unless indicated, all unattributed quotations from Kevin Walker come from this interview.

2 “Howe Sports Data Questionnaire,” February 12, 1996, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/60006403:61599, accessed May 31, 2024.

3 Eddie Merino Jr., “Dodger Dawgs Podcast: Episode 4: From World Champion MLB Pitcher to Red Sox Bullpen Coach, Kevin Walker,” Youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfWLVEzYnLg, accessed May 31, 2024.

4 Murray Anderson, “Big League Family: Walkers Make Athletics a Family Affair, Holtville Tribune (El Centro, California), https://holtvilletribune.com/2021/12/22/big-league-family-walkers-make -athletics-a-family-affair/, accessed May 31, 2024.

5 Joe Kay, “Boone Blasts Reds Past San Diego 12-10,” Greenville (Ohio) Daily Advocate, August 10, 2002: 7.

6 “Transactions,” Ukiah (California) Daily Journal, May 17, 2003: 8.

7 “Transactions,” Huntingdon (Pennsylvania) Daily News, January 5, 2007: 6.

8 “Riversharks Pitcher Kevin Walker Signed by Colorado Rockies,” OurSportsCentral.com, June 13,2007. https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/riversharks-pitcher-kevin-walker-signed-by-colorado-rockies/n-3487019, accessed May 31, 2024.

9 Boston Red Sox Media Guide, 2018, 426. https://www.sportsarchive.net/documents/702#page/n5/mode/2up, accessed May 31, 2024.

10 “Boston Red Sox Oust New York Yankees, Ready for ‘Huge Challenge’ against Tampa Bay Rays in ALDS,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32346019/boston-red-sox-oust-new-york-yankees-win-wild-card-advance-alds, accessed May 31, 2024.

11 Murray Anderson, “Big League Family: Walkers Make Athletics a Family Affair, Holtville Tribune, https://holtvilletribune.com/2021/12/22/big-league-family-walkers-make -athletics-a-family-affair/, accessed October 2, 2024.

12 Jen McCaffrey, “Red Sox Fire 6 Coaches, Including First Base Coach Andy Fox, Bullpen Coach Kevin Walker,” The Athletic, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5832486/2024/10/09/red-sox-coaches-fired-andy-fox-kevin-walker/, accessed October 10, 2024.