Neil Walker on becoming Don Kelly's bench coach with Pirates: 'Not right now'

There has been some speculation that new Pirates manager Don Kelly may ask his brother-in-law, former Pirate Neil Walker, to be his bench coach.

Walker joined me on the “Breakfast with Benz” podcast Wednesday. He acknowledges that the topic has been discussed, but it’s unlikely to happen. 

“If my brother-in-law was extremely adamant for me to do it, I may have to give it strong consideration,” Walker admitted. “But we’ve talked about it just a little. Logistically, it’s a little much for me right now.”

At the moment, Walker simply says he doesn’t have the time or desire to take on the job.

“I think right now, probably not,” Walker said. “If I decided to kind of throw my hat in the ring, it might be entertained. But I think right now, with an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old, and we’re currently building a house, it’s not necessarily the things from a work standpoint that would slow me down. It’s everything off the field. ‘Not right now,’ is the short answer.”

Despite Kelly’s lack of experience as a first-time manager, Walker has faith that his brother-in-law can see the club through the 2025 season in better fashion than the 15-29 start. So far, Kelly is 3-3 since taking over for Derek Shelton last week. The Pirates have yet to lose by more than one run with Kelly in charge.

“Regardless of the situation, he is all in. He is going to do everything he can to try to right the ship and to really rally these guys and try to get them to move in the right direction,” Walker said.

The biggest thing for the Pirates right now is to generate some offense. They are last in the league in runs scored with 135. Only the Chicago White Sox (.620) have a worse OPS than the Pirates (.628). Only the Kansas City Royals (29) have fewer home runs than the Pirates (31). The Pirates’ team batting average (.219) is 27th in MLB.

“Donnie is a ‘pump the tires’ guy. He’s a guy that’s going to do everything he can to make sure that guys believe in what they’re doing and have conviction when they go out on that field. Offensively, things are not good right now. They’re not scoring runs. Donnie is doing everything he can to try to pump the offense in other ways,” Walker said.

According to Walker, that’s by doing things beyond waiting for an extended rally or hoping for a three-run homer.

“Moving runners. Bunts. Steals. We haven’t seen hit-and-run yet, but that may be something that happens as time goes along here,” Walker predicted.

Kelly is a Mt. Lebanon native. He and Walker’s sister, Carrie, are married. The Walkers went to Pine-Richland High School. Walker insists that Kelly’s local ties to the Pirates make this the perfect fit for him as a first-time manager despite the challenges that are present with the lack of depth on the current roster.

“He really wanted to be here when he started his coaching career. He started as a first base coach for the Astros and went to the World Series. He really enjoyed doing that. But I think, quietly, even during that time, he kind of wanted to be home,” Walker added. “I know that this is a dream job for him. Even as the bench coach, he saw that as a dream position to be home.”

LISTEN: Tim Benz and Neil Walker talk about the Pirates and Don Kelly taking over as manager.