The Duke of Curve, Pa.
"We're looking forward to getting out of spring training to play some real ball," Welker said, laughing, after a recent exhibition game at thae Pirates' minor league facility at Pirate City.
Spring training can be many things, and they aren't always fun things. There are daily drills and daily practice games - against your own teammates most of the time -and, after a few weeks of that, most players are anxious to play against someone else.
The Eastern League will provide that for Welker and his Altoona Curve teammates.
Welker went 4-5 with six saves and a 2.76 ERA in a career-high 44 minor league games with Bradenton (high Class A) and Altoona (Double A) last season.
He went 3-5 with a 2.25 ERA in 36 games (52 innings) for Bradenton before being promoted to the Curve on Aug. 13. He didn't allow a hit in his first two games with the Curve and was charged with just one earned run in his final five games, finishing 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in eight appearances.
"We're all looking forward to getting up (Altoona) to perform," Welker said. "The fans are awesome. I love the town. It's exciting.
"All I want to do is bring another championship to Altoona. That's what all the guys want."
The Pirates' second-round selection in the 2007 draft, Welker took awhile to hit his stride in the minor leagues. After a 2-2 record and 2.35 ERA in seven starts at State College in 2007, the big right hander struggled mightily in low-A -- 2008 at Hickory (4-13, 5.51) and 2009 at West Virginia (0-11, 5.79).
"I had him for awhile in '08 and '09," the Curve's new pitching coach, Jeff Johnson, said at Pirate City. "There were some struggles going on then, but we did some tinkering with him and we let him figure it out.
"We're very happy with his progress since then," Johnson said. "He's made a big change in the last year or so and a lot of things are going well for him."
Welker has been used in relief the past two seasons with more success and he'll most likely be used out of the bullpen again this season.
"They've been working all different things with me," Welker said, "so wherever they want me, I'm happy."
"Expectations are going to be really high for Duke," Johnson said. "He'll be a multiple-inning guy. Some nights he'll be short; some nights he'll close."
At 6-foot-7, Welker looks like a basketball player and said he considered playing in college after he captained his Woodinville (WA) High School team.
"I really enjoyed playing basketball," he said, "but I also enjoyed playing baseball and that's where I felt I had the best opportunity to further my career-- as a professional in baseball, so I chose it."
He's officially Matthew Scott Welker, so where does "Duke" come from?
"It comes from a family friend of ours, Duke Wallenborn," Welker said. "He played basketball for Western Washington University and died at the end of the 1991 season.
"When I moved from Seattle to Montana, I went to first grade -- actually it was Sunday school -- and put "Duke" on my name tag.
"It stuck, and I've been Duke ever since."