Top 5 Cincinnati Reds killers since 1970: The hitters edition

4. Larry Walker eclipsed 100 RBIs against the Reds in his 17-year career.

Regardless of the uniform he was wearing or the country he was playing in, Larry Walker was a mountain of trouble for the Cincinnati Reds. The Hall of Fame left-handed-hitting slugger clobbered Reds pitching throughout a 17-year major league career.

The Canadien made his big league debut in 1989 with the Montreal Expos before spending a decade with the Colorado Rockies and finally finishing his career in St. Louis as a member of the Cardinals.

During those 17 years, Walker was a seven-time Gold Glove recipient, made five All-Star appearances, won three batting titles and Silver Slugger awards in addition to being the 1997 NL MVP.

During his career, Walker amassed a .338/.420/.623 slash line against Redleg pitching. Blasting 31 homers with 102 RBIs and an eye-popping 1.043 OPS in 137 games, Walker left the Cincinnati Reds pitching staff in ruins. However, there were two former Redleg hurlers he took particular pleasure in tormenting.

Right-hander Pete Harnisch was an integral part of the 1999 Reds team that won 96 games, but he was hapless when attempting to retire Larry Walker. Over 45 at-bats, Walker took Harnish deep five times with a .378 average and a 1.240 OPS. One of Walker’s round-trippers against Harnisch included an inside the parker in the cavernous Colorado outfield.

As for Pete Schourek, Walker was even more of a headache. Naturally, this lefty on lefty matchup did not work to the Reds advantage. Facing each other 31 times, Walker would reach base 17 times with five homers and two doubles. His slash line of .444/.516/.1.074 tells you all you need to know about who won these battles.

Throughout his career, Larry Walker never hit more than five home runs off a single pitcher. He achieved this feat five times, and two of those victims are the Cincinnati Reds hurlers, as mentioned above.