No one wants to watch Taijuan Walker pitch another game for the Philadelphia Phillies, as the $72 million free agent bust has strung together two atrocious outings to begin the 2026 season. Luckily, longtime ace Zack Wheeler should make his return from injury in a few weeks. However, that still leaves a handful of turns through the rotation to be filled by Walker, as well as the lingering possibility that Wheeler's timeline doesn't remain quite so smooth. If the Phillies decide to finally pull the plug on Walker ahead of schedule, the next man up should be Alan Rangel.
28-year-old right-hander Alan Rangel came to the Phillies as a minor league free agent back in 2024, but didn’t make his big league debut until June of the following year. The Mexican swingman got into five games for the Phils last season, yielding only three earned runs over 11 innings of work.
Rangel has spent most of his time in the Phillies’ system with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, and began this season in the Ironpigs’ rotation. In two starts Rangel has posted a miniscule 0.84 ERA and punched out 10 batters across 10 ⅔ frames.
The Phillies have a paucity of starting pitching depth after failing to add any arms to the rotation mix this winter, and losing fan favorite Ranger Suárez in free agency. With Wheeler currently on the shelf, the rotation consists of Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Aaron Nola, Andrew Painter, and the aforementioned Walker.
All of those guys aside from Walker have tremendous upside, but aside from Sánchez, they all have equally notable question marks. Luzardo has struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness throughout his career, Nola is coming off of the worst season of his life, and Painter is a rookie with an injury history who has all of two major league games under his belt. Any of them could take a step back or get hurt at any time. Couple that uncertainty with the fact that there is no one established waiting in the wings, and the Phillies are in deep trouble if something goes wrong.
If the Phillies need another starter, it should be the experienced Alan Rangel
In steps the hero of our story: Alan Rangel. At 28 years of age he’s hardly a prospect, and he hasn’t even racked up enough big league experience to shed his rookie eligibility. In spite of that, he has one thing Taijuan Walker hasn’t possessed for a long time: upside. Last season Rangel made 25 starts for Lehigh Valley and struck out 131 batters over 124 ⅔ innings. He also walked only 40 opponents, meaning he did a decent job of commanding his pitches and fooling hitters, two things Taijuan Walker has never been able to do as a Phillie.
If all goes according to plan, the Phillies won’t need Alan Rangel this year. Painter will ascend to stardom, Sánchez and Luzardo will continue their lights out ways, Nola will return to his previous All-Star form and Wheeler will come back better than ever. But, if just one wrench is thrown into that plan, the Phillies should cut bait on Taijuan Walker, and give Alan Rangel a chance to prove himself.