Married, wife's name is Natalie...They have two sons, Ross (2/16/95) and James (5/28/07); and daughters Harlee (6/28/99) and Hannah (5/2/04)...Donated $200 per appearance to the USArmy Emergency Relief Fund in 2007...Graduated from Warren County HS in McMinnville, TN in 1989...Attended Austin Peay State University 1990-92...Ranks 5th all-time in school history with 17 wins...Is first with 3 career shutouts, 3rd with 3 complete games, 7th with 54 games started and 8th with 243.0 innings pitched...Named Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year in 1992 after posting a 9-5 record and 2.74 ERAin 20
2008
Went 1-3 with a 6.87 ERA(38.0IP, 29ER), allowing a career-high 12 home runs in 59 games in his second year with the O's...Allowed a .250 opponents average in 24 home games and a .369 average in 35 road games...Struck out the side and earned the win in his first appearance of the season, April 2 vSEA, setting a season-high in K's...Did not allow a run in his first five appearances (3.2 innings) before allowing three earned runs without recording an out on April 11 @TB...Went a season-high eight straight games without allowing an earned run, April 26-May 9...Placed on 15-day disabled list with left elbow inflammation, retroactive to June 26, on June 30...Activated from disabled list on July 27...Pitched a season-high 2.0 innings on August 17 @DET
2007
In his first season with the Orioles, was tied for the AL lead and set a team franchise record with 81 appearances....Set the club record on September 16 at Toronto with his 77th appearance, passing B.J. Ryan (2003 & 2004) and Tippy Martinez (1982)...The mark was also a career-high...Has appeared in at least 56 games each of the last six seasons...Previous career high was 78 appearances for Detroit in 2003...Also had a career-high 7 saves, surpassing his previous high of 3 in 2003...Held left-handed batters to a .216 average (24-111)...Was tied for 8th in the American League with 21 holds...Allowed 22 of 53 inherited runners to score, tied for the second-highest mark among AL relievers...Was a 41.5% IR scoring rate, the 5th highest percentage in the league...Posted a 1.74 ERA in April, allowing 2 runs in 14 appearances spanning 10.1 innings...Allowed a grand slam to Travis Hafner in 1.0 IP on May 7 vs. Cleveland...Went a season-high 6 games without pitching, May 12-18...Missed the first 2 games of the series at Kansas City, May 28-29, returning to Baltimore for the birth of his son, James, on May 28...Retired 18 of 19 batters in 7 outings before his appearance on May 31 at Los Angeles...Stretch began after he allowed 4 runs vs. Cleveland on May 7...Earned 4 saves in a 9-game span, July 22-31...Pitched a perfect inning on July 22 at Oakland for his first save since July 21, 2004 with Detroit...Suffered a blown save & loss on August 7 vs. Seattle, breaking a string of 19 straight scoreless outings (14.2 IP) that began on June 26...Was charged with blown saves in back-to-back outings August 23-24, both vs. Minnesota...Allowed one earned run in 12 appearances (8.2IP), August 19-September 13...Earned his 7th save with 2.0 perfect IP on September 27 vs. Toronto...Was his longest outing of the season, having pitched 1.2 innings twice.
2006
Appeared in 56 games, the 5th straight season he has pitched in 50 or more games with Detroit...Only Mike Henneman (7 straight seasons, 1987-93) appeared in 50 or more games more often for the Tigers...Appeared in 28 games prior the All-Star break, posting a 1.13 ERA (24.0IP, 3ER)...Pitched to a 4.50 ERA (24.0IP, 12ER) in 28 outings after the break...Compiled a 2.42 ERA (26.0IP, 7ER) in 29 outings at Comerica Park...Recorded a 3.27 ERA (22.0IP, 8ER) in 27 appearances on the road...Did not allow run over 16 straight outings, April 9-June 1, spanning 14.1 innings...Issued his first unintentional walk of the season in his 35th appearance on August 1 at Tampa Bay...Had walked 2 batters intentionally in his first 34 outings of the season...Appeared in his 326th game with the Tigers on September 29 vs. Kansas City, moving him into sole possession of sixth place on the club's all-time list for appearances by a left-handed pitcher...Has appeared in 270 games over the last 4 seasons, 3rd most among American League left-handers behind B.J. Ryan (286) and J.C. Romero (280)...No other lefty has appeared in more than 214 games in that time...Appeared in 5 post-season games for Detroit, appearing in all three series...Combined to go 1-0 with a 4.15 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .200 average (3-15), working 3 games of the AL Division Series and one game each in the AL Championship Series and the World Series...Earned the win in the 2nd game of the ALDS vs. New York...Retired both batters faced, getting an inning-ending double play in the 6th and the first out of the 7th after the Tigers had taken the lead in the top of the inning of a 4-3 win.
2005
Led Detroit hurlers and tied for 9th among American League lefthanders with 66 appearances... Matched his career high with 4 victories...Tied for 5th worst in the AL in inducing opponents to ground into a double play in double play situations, 2.3 percent (one in 44 situations)...After allowing an earned run in his first appearance of the season on 4/6 vs. Kansas City, allowed just one earned run over his next 13 outings, posting a 0.79 ERA (11.1IP, 1ER) over that stretch...Matched a career best with a 2-game winning streak, 4/29-5/11, and also posted a 2-game winning streak 6/19- 8/15...Suffered a career-high 3-game losing streak, 5/14-6/4...Worked 12 consecutive scoreless outings, 6/6-7/4, tossing 9.0 nine scoreless innings...His ERA stood at a season-low 1.61 (28.0IP, 5ER) after pitching 1.1 scoreless innings on 7/4 at Cleveland...Posted a 6.53 ERA (20.2IP, 15ER) over his final 32 appearances of the season to finish the season with a 3.70 ERA...Recorded his 300th career appearance with a scoreless inning on 7/17 vs. Kansas City...Passed Frank Tanana for seventh in Tigers history in appearances by a lefthanded pitcher with his 251st appearance on 8/6 vs. Cleveland...Donated $150 to the Army Emergency Relief fund for each of his 30 strikeouts, donating a total of $4500.
2004
Led the Tigers with 70 appearances, while establishing a career high with 53 strikeouts... Second among American League relievers with 1.67 walks per nine innings and 4.42 strikeouts per walk...Fanned a season-high three batters May 8 at Texas -- equaled the high June 17 at Philadelphia and June 27 versus Arizona...Did not issue a walk in 16 straight outings May 31-July 9, a stretch of 11.2 innings...Compiled a 1.20 ERA (15.0IP/2ER) and 12 strikeouts in 12 outings during May...limited the opposition to a .179
2003
Allowed 26.5 percent of inherited runners to score (18x68), tied for 11th-best among American League relievers... finished 17th among league relievers with 11.1 baserunners per nine innings and a .229 batting average with runners on base (27x118) and tied for 17th with four blown saves...Surrendered nine home runs, tying him for 12th among league relievers -- six of the home runs were hit by lefthanded batters...Scored upon in just three of his first 18 outings of the season March 31-May 17 before allowing three runs on four hits in a loss on May 19 at Cleveland -- allowed three runs in 12.0 innings (2.25 ERA) during the stretch...Issued six walks in his first eight appearances of the season (4.2 innings pitched), including a season-high two walks April 15 at Minnesota -- walked three batters over his next 34 outings April 26-July 10, a stretch of 36.2 innings pitched...Stranded all 22 runners he inherited during a 28-outing stretch May 2-July 5 -- allowed 13 of the 32 runners he inherited to score over the remainder of the season...Earned a save on July 1 versus Toronto, his first save of the season and first since May 20, 2002 at Cleveland -- recorded two more saves to tie for third on the Tigers staff with three...Fanned a season-best three batters while working a season-high three innings against Texas on August 18 -- longest outing since he also worked three scoreless innings on April 21, 2002 at Comiskey Park against the White Sox...Finished the season strong by allowing a run in two of his final 17 appearances, posting a 2.13 ERA (12.2IP/3ER) over the stretch...Limited lefthanded batters to a .212 batting average (24x113), while righties hit .276 (37x134) with him on the mound...13 of the 24 hits allowed to lefties were for extra-bases (6-2B, 3B, 6-HR), while nine of the 37 hits by righthanded batters went for extra-bases (6-2B, 3-HR)...Opposition hit .229 (30x131) against him prior to the all-star break, while the batting average rose to .267 (31x116) after the All-Star break.
2002
Ranked second on the Tigers pitching staff with a career-high 57 appearances in his first season with Detroit...Sixth among American League relievers in first batter efficiency, limiting the first batter faced to a .170 batting average (9x53)...Surrendered nine home runs, tied for 10th-most among American League relievers...Allowed seven home runs to lefthanded hitters, while giving up just two to righthanded hitters...Started the season with Triple A Toledo and appeared in five games before having his contract purchased by Detroit on April 16...Allowed one run on three hits, including a home run, while retiring just one batter in his Tigers debut April 16 against Tampa Bay...Retired all nine batters he faced and struck out five in a season-high three innings at Chicago on April 22...Held opponents hitless over four consecutive outings April 22-29, tossing 5.1 innings...Held opponents scoreless in five straight outings April 22-May 1, tossing 6.2 innings...Worked 1.1 scoreless innings May 1 at Kansas City to pick up his first win of the season...Struck out the side in his only inning of work May 8 at Anaheim...Recorded his first major league save May 20 at Cleveland...Held opponents scoreless in eight-of-11 outings in June and finished the month with a 2.79 ERA (9.2IP/3ER)...Optioned to Toledo July 3, he appeared in five games and posted a 0-1 record and 2.45 ERA (7.1IP/2ER)...Recalled from Toledo July 19...Roughed up for four runs on five hits, including two home runs, in 1.1 innings July 20 versus Minnesota...Held opponents scoreless in seven consecutive outings August 4-17, tossing 3.1 innings...Allowed one run on one hit and failed to retire a batter in his first loss of the season August 25 against Oakland...Held opponents hitless in seven straight outings and struck out eight in just 4.1 innings September 5-22...Did not allow a run in nine consecutive outings September 7-29, tossing five shutout innings and fanning 10 to finish the season...Named the Tigers Pitcher of the Month for September after posting a 1.35 ERA (6.2IP/1ER) and 12 strikeouts.
2001
Walker joined the Tigers organization after signing as a minor league free agent on November 6, 2001...In five games with Toledo in 2002, he has fanned five batters while posting a 1.42 ERA in 6.1 innings.
