Neil Walton - Assistant Coach - Baseball Coaches

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

Neil Walton

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
neil.walton@csun.edu
Phone:
5622

Neil Walton completed his second season as an assistant coach to the CSUN Baseball team in 2020-21. Walton serves as the hitting coach and assists with recruiting.

In two seasons with the Matadors, Walton has helped guide CSUN to a 31-24 record. The Matadors finished in fourth in place in the Big West this past season and posted their fourth winning conference record since joining the league.

This past season, the Matadors' offensive attack finished in the top-three in the Big West in numerous categories while leading the league in stolen bases (60) and walks (198) in conference play. CSUN also registered its highest on-base percentage (.388) since 2002. He coached the top two batting average leaders in the Big West as Kai Moody won the batting title with a .393 average followed closely by Jayson Newman with a .392 average at the plate.

In 2020, Walton joined the Matadors and would help coach the program to its best start in 27 seasons with a 7-0 record. The Matadors finished the COVID-19 shortened-season with a 10-5 record.

A former national championship shortstop, Walton spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton and previously four seasons at UC Santa Barbara. As a player and coach, Walton has been a part of three College World Series, six Super Regionals, and seven Regionals.

Over his last two seasons with the Titans, he assisted with the team's offense, worked with infielders and helped manage Titan Baseball Camps. In 2019, led by Walton’s infield defense, the Titans posted a .980 fielding percentage which ranked No. 9 overall in the country. The Titans also posted a .289 batting average which was their best mark in the BBCOR era.

In 2018, Walton helped coach the Titans to the Big West Conference title as well as the Stanford Regional championship and the hosting of the Fullerton Super Regional. The 2018 team also registered a .981 conference fielding percentage and produced all-conference players at first and second base. Walton also served as a graduate manager on the Titans' 2013 Big West championship team that hosted a Super Regional en route to a 51-10 season.

Following his first stint with the Titans, Walton spent four seasons with UC Santa Barbara from 2014-17. Serving as a volunteer assistant in his first season, Walton moved into a full-time assistant coach role the next season. With UCSB, he was responsible for managing the Gaucho offense and assisting with recruitment from 2015-2017.

In 2015, Walton watched over a UCSB group that returned to the NCAA Tournament and hosted a regional for the first time in program history. A season later, the Gauchos accomplished another first: the school's first College World Series appearance. UCSB won the Nashville Regional during the magical 2016 season before it beat Louisville two-straight times in the Super Regional round. The Gauchos also won a school record 43 games against Division I opponents in 2016.

On the recruiting trail, Walton helped UCSB post nationally-ranked recruiting classes in all of his four seasons in Santa Barbara. The 2016 class would rank as a high No. 9 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. In 2015, a program-record 10 Gauchos were selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, which ranked second only to Oklahoma.

As a player, Walton was a three-year standout at Cal State Fullerton where he won a National Championship in 2004 as a starting shortstop. Walton played for head coach George Horton and then assistant coach Serrano while with the Titans. Fullerton ranked as high No. 1 in the nation in each of his three seasons on the field.

A member of two Big West championship teams (2004 and 2005) and two College World Series teams (2003 and 2004), Walton was drafted in the 16th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Walton spent four years in the Tampa Bay organization, rising as high as Double-A in 2008.

He graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in communications and a minor in psychology in 2010. Walton also earned his masters in kinesiology with an emphasis in sports psychology from Fullerton in 2013.