Who is Pete Walker? Blue Jays pitching coach in middle of Yankees drama
Toronto pitching coach Pete Walker has gone from anonymous rival coach to a central figure in the Yankees’ feud with the Blue Jays.
The drama-filled week stems from Aaron Judge’s 462-foot home run in the first game on Monday — his second of the game — in which cameras caught his eyes shifting in the direction of the Yankees dugout before the blast.
Judge claimed he was glancing his dugout where his teammates were “chirping” at umpire Clint Vondrak after Yankees manager Aaron Boone has been ejected and they were leading 6-0.
The Blue Jays argued the Yankees’ base coaches were not in their respective boxes, though MLB did not find any evidence that there were any major rule violations.
Come Tuesday, both Yankees’ base coaches started in their boxes, but by the third inning controversy struck again as Blue Jay manager John Schneider and Walker took issue with where Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas was standing.
Pete Walker, center, runs drills during baseball spring training. AP
Blue Jays manager John Schneider yelled “shut up, fat boy, shut up” in the direction of the Yankees dugout on May 16, 2023. YES Network
That sparked talk from the Blue Jays dugout, including Schneider appearing to tell someone to “shut up fat boy, shut up.”
After the game, Schneider claimed to have said that to no one in particular, though Yankees assistant hitting coach Brad Wilkerson assumed the insult was about him.
By Thursday’s fourth and final game in the series, in which the Yankees had the final say in a 4-2 win to grab three of the four-game series, Boone had enough and yelled back at an aggravated Walker, who continued his ridicule of at Rojas about being out of the box.
“You’re f–king crazy. Sit the f–k down, Pete,” he appeared to shout.
“Oh I don’t know. He was yelling at Luis [Rojas] again,” Boone said after Thursday’s game. “I’m glad we’re leaving. I was trying to stay out of [interacting with their] dugout and I violated my own rules to our guys, so I apologize for that.”
Walker, 54, has been with the Blue Jays since the end of eight-year pitching career.
He first landed with the Mets in 1995 after he was drafted in the seventh round of the 1990 MLB June Amateur Draft from the University of Connecticut.
Starting Pitcher Pete Walker throws against the Oakland A’s at the Network Associates Coliseum in 2002. Getty Images
He had two stints with the Mets while hopping to the Padres and Rockies in between before heading to Toronto for his final four years from 2002-2006 where he allowed 320 hits, 148 earned runs, and 44 home runs across 308.2 innings for a 4.32 ERA.
Walker joined the Blue Jays’ staff in 2009, landing the pitching coach gig in 2012, and he has been credited for helping 2021 AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray, as well as as J.A. Happ and Steven Matz.
He was also recently arrested for a DUI in March of 2022 in Pinellas County, Florida, and he was released later on $500 cash bond.
Pete Walker Getty Images
“There was a traffic incident on Thursday night that I was involved in,” the 52-year-old Walker told reporters Saturday. “I’m very apologetic to the Blue Jays organization, Blue Jays fans and my family.”
Source: New York Post
