How Giants player Walker got through the canceled 2020 season with a blue-collar job

How Giants player Walker got through the canceled 2020 season with a blue-collar job originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Ryan Walker, like so many other lesser-known MLB talents, had to find a way to make ends meet during the 2020 season that was canceled due to COVID-19.

Walker spoke with Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times before the Giants’ victory over the Mariners on Saturday, where the Arlington, Washingtona San Francisco native, talked about his homecoming and difficult road to the MLB after San Francisco selected him in the 31st round of the 2018 draft.

“I obviously didn't start 2018 at the most promising position, but that shows that it doesn't matter,” Walker told Divish. “You just go out there, do your thing and throw. That's all you can do, and that's what I did. It's cool to see the years go by, moving up every year was always a plus. There were always years where it was like, OK, if I don't move up next year or whatever, then I'm going to start rethinking my career. But every year I just kept moving up. I just stayed true to my personality as a pitcher, and it worked.”

Walker was forced to rethink his career, at least temporarily, in 2020 when the MiLB season was canceled due to the pandemic. Walker told Divish that he drove for Lyft in the Spokane area for a few months but didn't enjoy it, prompting him to take a job with a local metalworking company.

“If you locked your keys in the car or locked your house, if you had to re-lock houses and businesses, I learned how to do that,” Walker said. “It pays a lot better than Lyft or anything else I wanted to do. It was actually fun. We had to survive somehow. I definitely didn't have the means to go a whole year without working, so it was a good time. It's a great skill to learn. My boss was great. I started out just doing car lockouts, and then he showed me how to do more.”

Walker had a number of strange encounters while working as a locksmith, including having to open the doors of several running cars, some of which even had babies locked inside.

“I've seen a lot,” Walker said. “I have some stories.”

Now the 28-year-old is the Giants' new closer, putting an end to opposing batters in the ninth inning. Walker has appeared in 65 games this season, pitched 68 1/3 innings, recorded 89 strikeouts and 15 walks, and achieved a spectacular ERA of 1.98.

It is safe to say that if he continues to perform well, he will not have to resume his career as a locksmith any time soon.

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