Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Altoona Curve's Neil Walker is hitting .301 this season with 85 hits, 12 home runs and 44 RBIs. Click photo for larger image.

ALTOONA -- It could turn out that Neil Walker's 17 errors thus far in his first season as a third baseman will be a good thing for the Pirates.

Jay Bell made 55 errors in a season in low Class A baseball. He became a pretty good major-leaguer.

Derek Jeter made 56 errors in 1993 in Class A ball. He turned out OK.

Gene Michael had three consecutive seasons of 50-plus errors in the Pirates' minor-league system. He turned out fine defensively.

Honus Wagner made 50 errors as a rookie in the majors. He turned out to be a Hall of Famer.

Same with Phil Rizzuto and Luis Aparicio, who made 29 and 35 errors in their rookie seasons in the big leagues.

"I don't think you can get hung up on the number of errors," said Tim Leiper, Walker's manager at Class AA Altoona. "Is he getting ready every pitch? Is he making routine plays? Is he getting better on the plays he's been struggling with? The answer to all those questions is, 'Yeah, he is.' He's getting better with everything."

Keep in mind that Walker, the Pirates' top draft pick in 2004, moved from catcher to third base -- "a man's position," Leiper said -- this past spring training.

"He's definitely come a long way from spring training until now," said Tony Beasley, the Pirates' minor-league infield coordinator. "He seems much more comfortable at third base. His hands are good. His feet are good. [Early on] I was concerned about his positioning and learning to read hitters and getting all the information before the at-bat, and I think he's done a much better job of doing that.

"This kid can play third base. His mind-set is good. He's confident. The one thing you have to stay on top of him about is he may think he's farther along than he is, so you have to keep his maintenance program going on a daily basis -- make sure he stays focused on a daily basis."

"You want to make sure he plays every pitch of every game," Leiper said. "That's the biggest thing -- because that one second you let up and you're not ready, that's when that tough play is going to hit you.

"But he's doing great. He's learning. He's good [at third base]. He's saved us a lot of runs. The nice thing is [that] when he makes an error and he thinks about it, the next time that same ball's hit it's gobbled up and he gets the play done."

Moving Walker to third base at some point was in the Pirates' minds even when they drafted him out of Pine-Richland High School. Maybe he knew that.

When he went through a workout for the Pirates as a catcher before the draft, he also took some ground balls at third.

"I did pretty well," Walker said. "That might have been one of the things that stuck in their minds."

Walker began doing third-base drills after the 2005 season -- first in the Instructional League in Bradenton, Fla., then in the Fall League in Arizona.

And, when the Pirates anointed Ronny Paulino as their catcher of the future last season, it was only a matter of time before Walker moved to third.

"I am comfortable [at third]," Walker said. "There's still a lot of work to be done. There are a lot of things in games that sometimes surprise me."

The other day, a ball caromed off an Altoona pitcher's glove and rolled toward Walker. He tried to make the play barehanded and dropped the ball.

"I should have fielded it with my glove," Walker said.

There are plays on which he's unsure about backhanding the ball or not backhanding the ball.

"A lot of things are not second nature yet," Walker said. "There are still things I need to see again. The key is making sure you're doing the right things with the right balls."

There is no question about Walker having the arm strength to play third.

"I've seen him let [the ball] go when he had to let it go," Beasley said. "He has the internal clock. He understands the speed of the runner -- when he has to get rid of it [quickly] and when he has time. He's got a good feel for that."

Walker, a switch-hitter, continues to have a good feel for hitting.

He batted .286 in his first 2¹/₂ professional seasons. This season, his average stood at .301 through Monday night.

What's more telling, though, is his doubles total. He leads the Eastern League with 24.

"Power develops," Leiper said. "He's not done growing physically by any stretch of the imagination. He's a good hitter. Good hitters get doubles. Good hitters find gaps. He's hitting the ball to the gap right now. Maybe in a couple years with a little bit more strength that ball carries a little bit more.

"I know this -- he'd have a lot less doubles and more home runs if he didn't play in this [big] ballpark in Altoona. He's probably hit five or six balls to that corner in right field that definitely would be out in Pittsburgh."

Walker is doing exactly what Gregg Ritchie, the Pirates' minor-league hitting coordinator, wants.

"He preaches, 'Use the gaps,' " Walker said.

Not that it doesn't get frustrating for Walker.

"I'll hit a ball that gets caught at the wall or hits the wall or bounces over the wall," he said. "I think, 'Man, a couple more feet. When am I going to start hitting those out?' "

Ritchie, who previously worked in the Chicago White Sox's system, simply tells Walker of Paul Konerko, who has hit at least 35 home runs in each of the three previous seasons.

"[Ritchie] will say, 'Don't worry about the home runs now,' " Walker said. "He tells me that when [Konerko] was in the minor leagues he hit more doubles than home runs and that. over time. the numbers start to even out. That a guy might hit 30 to 40 doubles and only 10 to 15 home runs and then go to 30 doubles and 25 home runs."

However it plays out for Walker, Pirates fans could begin finding out soon.

Said Beasley: "He's definitely a kid I think by next year is going to be ready to do some good things for us."

And where might that be?

"In the big leagues," Beasley said.

Walker's 2007 statistics
Here's a look at Neil Walker's numbers with the Altoona Curve this season through Tuesday.
Player	AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO
Neil Walker	.301	79	282	55	85	24	2	12	44	149	32	47