Phillies finally bite the bullet with long-overdue Taijuan Walker change

At long long last. The City of Brotherly Love can rejoice. An outing of 13 hits and six earned runs was indeed the final straw.

On Thursday afternoon — ahead of a crucial four-game series against its division rivals, the Atlanta Braves — Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson made the decision to finally move the 32-year-old right-handed pitcher Taijuan Walker out of the rotation and into the bullpen.

According to The Athletic's Matt Gelb, Thomson expressed that the team will call up a new arm to add to the rotation before the series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays next Tuesday — the next encounter Walker was scheduled to take the hill.

"Probably a long man," said Thomson on Walker's potential new role.

"I'm hoping the stuff, the velocity will tick up. He'll get out there and just power the ball through the zone ... I feel for him because he has put so much time and effort into this thing and he has worked extremely hard."

The ball club's new No. 5 starter, per Gelb, is most likely to be 26-year-old Tyler Phillips, whose recent performances have been far from stellar. Throughout August, Phillips has struggled significantly in both the majors and Triple-A. He's allowed 26 runs over five games, with opposing batters posting an impressive 1.099 OPS against him.

However, Phillips, who grew up a Phillies fan, did record a complete game shutpiece in late July against the Cleveland Guardians. So, there is some track record of success in the majors this year.

Anything was better than Walker, to be honest. Philadelphia could not afford to keep throwing Walker out there as a rotation arm with its eyes on a World Series title.

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Taijuan Walker may have made his last start with Phillies (even with two years left on his deal)

The former 43rd selection in the 2010 Major League Baseball draft, Walker is in the second season of a four-year, $72 million contract. Boy, that has not aged quite like LeBron James, who turns 40 this upcoming December.

In 2023, Walker was a slightly below league average pitcher, posting a 4.38 earned run average in 31 starts. Then, the calendar turned to 2024. He has been far from what Phillies fans believed he would be.

Prior to this demotion, the right-hander allowed more than one earned run in 13 of his 14 total starts. Hitters are smashing an absurd .310 with Walker on the mound, including .390 against his split-finger fastball. Comparatively, of all the pitches he threw last season, none limited a batter's productivity more effectively than the split-finger, per Statcast. Man has just not missed bats whatsoever.

The possibility of Walker returning as a starting pitcher for the NL East outfit seems unlikely at this point. While Thomson didn't rule out Walker's return to the rotation next season, this scenario appears improbable given his recent performance issues. If Walker struggles to be effective even in a relief role, the organization may need to consider eating the rest of his contract via a straight release.