Phillies confident they already have Taijuan Walker’s replacement for 2025

Taijuan Walker’s struggles with the Philadelphia Phillies this season have already been well-documented. With his relegation to the bullpen, the Phillies hope that it will enable him to work on his game by taking him away from the spotlight. In addition, the long-term plan is to help fix what went wrong and work with him in the offseason to see if he can rediscover his form for the 2025 season.

However, if things don’t end up going to plan, the Phillies are confident that they may already have Walker’s potential replacement for the 2025 season. That replacement would come in the form of the Phillies’ top pitching prospect Andrew Painter.

Phillies confident Andrew Painter can be Taijuan Walker’s replacement in 2025

According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the Phillies plan to run it back with the same starting rotation for 2025. But at the same time, they are optimistic that Painter will become a significant contributor in the majors (subscription required) at some point with the club next season.

How fast Painter can get to the big leagues will depend on how fast his recovery from Tommy John surgery turns out to be. He suffered a recent setback in which he experienced general soreness that players returning from elbow surgery usually encounter, along with an illness that led to a pause in his throwing program. Nevertheless, Painter is still on track and recently faced live hitters for the first time, per Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He's projected to make his return to the field sometime in 2025.

But when he eventually does, given his long layoff from elbow surgery, he will probably be on a strict innings limit for the season. As a result, Walker could still factor in some particular role, whether it be piggybacking with Painter, or even splitting some starts with him if he somehow regains his form.

Speaking of which, Phillies manager Rob Thomson had explained why the organization is still confident that Walker can return to being a serviceable "innings eater" in 2025.

“The program that he [Walker] was on to try and gain velocity, we didn’t have enough time,” Thomson said after Walker was moved to the bullpen, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. “Like, that program’s a long program, and we sort of cut the program off early. I think if he has a full offseason of that program, we have a better chance of seeing some improvement.”

For the 2024 season, Walker has struggled to a 3-6 record with a 6.50 ERA and 1.64 WHIP as a starter. So whether or not Walker figures it out in the end probably won’t be known until after the completion of his offseason program.

But one thing is for sure, he will have the organization’s top pitching prospect breathing down his neck and ready to usurp him in the rotation if things don’t end up going to plan.