3 Phillies players most likely to have a breakout season in 2023
By Tim Boyle
2) Phillies starting pitcher Taijuan Walker is ready to have a breakout season
Taijuan Walker has been around the league for quite a few years. Can he technically have a breakout year? About to enter his age 30 campaign, we can compare him to Zack Wheeler who many will say had a breakout year when he joined the Phillies several years ago.
Walker comes to the Phillies with a lifetime 54-50 record and 3.89 ERA. Injuries have held him back many times in the past. He has managed to avoid any extensive stays on the IL in the past two years. He is now coming off of a 12-5, 3.49 ERA campaign with the New York Mets.
The Phillies are paying Walker the kind of money to suggest they also feel he can have a breakout season. He’ll receive $18 million in each season for four years. It’s a hefty pay day for a pitcher who has appeared in games for parts of ten seasons now.
Fans should be high on Walker after seeing what Wheeler was able to do for them since arriving. Plenty of pitchers take a little more time than the average fan can accept to become a stud. Walker may not enter the Cy Young conversation, but he can definitely become one of the most reliable Phillies starters we’ve seen in years.