The Philadelphia Phillies had one of the top starting rotations in Major League Baseball last year, even with the team’s issues regarding the No. 5 spot. The rotation was upgraded this offseason when the organization acquired left-hander Jesús Luzardo in an intra-division trade with the Miami Marlins.
Veteran pitcher Taijuan Walker is someone who Phillies fans are tired of hearing about. Unfortunately for them, the 32-year-old still has two years remaining on his four-year, $72 million contract.
The 2024 season was one to forget for Walker, whose patience among Phillies fans began to waver at the end of the 2023 season when manager Rob Thomson decided not to use him during the team’s postseason run. The right-hander owned a 3-7 record with a 7.10 ERA in 19 appearances a season ago, including four out of the bullpen, and was regularly booed and criticized by the fans.
Phillies turn to Joe Ross as emergency rotation injury backup plan over Taijuan Walker
The Phillies signed veteran pitcher Joe Ross to a one-year deal this offseason. Ross spent the first six seasons of his major league career with the Washington Nationals, mostly as a starting pitcher, before joining the Milwaukee Brewers in 2024 as a swingman.
Ross threw 74 innings for the Brewers, making 10 starts and 15 appearances out of the bullpen. The right-hander was significantly better as a reliever, posting a 1.67 ERA with 27 strikeouts and a .220 batting average against compared to a 4.98 ERA with 39 strikeouts and a .267 batting average against in 47 innings as a starter.
Although it was a small sample size in 2024, Ross was more effective in a swingman role than Walker. The struggling Walker owned a 7.18 ERA with a .314 batting average against as a starter and a 6.52 ERA with a .333 batting average against in 9 2/3 innings as a reliever.
As spring training continues, the Phillies are expected to build up Ross as a starting pitcher just in case he’s needed in that role because of injury, per NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman. Otherwise, the 31-year-old will be used in the bullpen, a role in which Thomson feels comfortable using him as a multi-inning reliever or one-inning leverage guy.
Ross pitched through two or more innings nine times as a reliever last year and as much as 6 1/3 innings as a starter in a single appearance. He had a sub-3.00 ERA in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings, including a 2.16 ERA in the ninth.
Walker has been nothing short of a disappointment during his time with the Phillies, and it seems as though the organization has finally seen enough.