With his reputation having taken quite a beating over the last year-plus, Taijuan Walker looked like a rudderless piece of the Philadelphia Phillies organization that the team could easily do without. Recent results are suggesting otherwise, however, as Walker nailed down his first career save in Wednesday's victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
We've all seen the "pitch the last three innings with your team up by a comfortable margin" variety of save before, but Walker's performance on Wednesday was worthy of praise, as he allowed just one hit and struck out seven clueless Tampa hitters en route to lowering his season ERA to 2.30. 2.30! Yes, this is the same Taijuan Walker who had a 7.10 mark last season and a 4.38 ERA during his "good" 2023 when he led the Phillies in wins.
Taijuan Walker continues redemption tour for Phillies with impressive bullpen outing
Tossing 45 pitches over three frames on Wednesday, Walker showcased an effective cutter/slider/sinker mix that had the Rays guessing in every at-bat. He hit 94.3 mph on the gun, and only allowed one hard-hit ball across 17 pitches where batters made contact. It was mighty impressive stuff in relief of Cristopher Sánchez, who only had to throw 85 pitches on the night to cruise through six innings. Every little bit helps as the team tries to "save up" pitches for later in the year from its most important arms.
Wednesday was just the ninth career relief appearance for Walker, who has made 215 starts as a big leaguer. You may recall that four of his previous relief appearances occurred last season, and they did not go well. Over 9 2/3 innings, Walker sported a 6.52 ERA, which was consistent with the miserable outcome of his whole season.
This year, however, something has been decidedly different. As was speculated months ago, Walker was putting in the work over the offseason. To his great credit, it's paying off thus far.
The man who quite fairly was recently likened to all-time Phillies Hall of Shamer Adam Eaton is giving manager Rob Thomson and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski a lot to think about. Given the struggles of bullpen arms like Orion Kerkering and Jordan Romano, Walker is in an especially good position right now to stake a claim to a valuable position on the team.
It's an impressive reversal for a player that everyone assumed would be getting kicked to the curb almost immediately after the 2024 season crashed and burned. Then, when the Phillies predictably couldn't offload him anywhere, they were roundly criticized for their decision to keep him around rather than eat his contract. It was seen as a cop-out when Dombrowski mentioned that the team could deploy him differently. That decision is looking smart right now.
Walker himself has expressed a desire to remain in the rotation, but that's not really a viable option for the club if their collection of starting pitchers is anywhere near full health. It's a good problem to have, though, as perhaps we are seeing the dawn of a transition where Walker can be at his most effective to help the club in what certainly seems to be its weakest area. Walker is under contract through 2026, and maybe the Phillies can recoup a chunk of the value that everyone assumed was just dead money.