It took Phillies fans one start to forgive Taijuan Walker for years of torment

For quite a long time, Taijuan Walker was a very solid big league pitcher. He's put together six seasons with an ERA+ of 100 or higher during his big league career. But the last two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies have been pretty disastrous. In 2023, he wasn't unplayable, but he was certainly a bottom of the rotation arm with FIP and WHIP numbers indicating even worse results than his ERA. In 2024, these underlying numbers caught up to him as he put together one of the worst pitching campaigns in the league.

Last year, the righty made 15 starts and tossed 83.2 innings with a 7.10 ERA, 1.72 WHIP, 6.94 FIP, 11.5 H/9 and 2.6 HR/9. He posted a WAR of -1.6, very far and above the worst of his career.

This offseason, the Phillies worked to replace him by trading for Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo. Luzardo looks to step into Walker's role and fill out a rotation of Zack Wheeler, Luzardo, Rander Suárez, Cristopher Sanchez, and Aaron Nola. This sees Walker off the big league roster, right?

Wrong. An injury to Suárez has thrust Walker back into an important role in Philadelphia and fans were left holding their breath.

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Taijuan Walker earns some credit from Phillies fans following impressive start

On Thursday, Walker made his first start of the season in a game against the Colorado Rockies. Walker went six shutout innings and allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out four hitters and earning the win. He threw just 74 pitches in the game. It was truly a masterful performance and Phillies fans have seemed to respond quite well to him after the outing.

Phillies fans on X, formerly Twitter, responded by praising and congratulating the veteran righty on the incredible performance.

Philadelphia is going to need even more of this out of him this season, especially if Suárez is going to miss significant time. Walker might not have been a solid piece to the rotation last year, but there's a chance he's ready for a career revival in 2025.

The righty needed a big performance to open the year. He got just that, which should boost his confidence going forward.