It has been a fairly quiet offseason for the Philadelphia Phillies, but if Dave Dombrowski did one thing, it was bury Taijuan Walker deep in the bullpen.
Last season was an outright disaster for the former All-Star, who battled through injuries to deliver some of the worst starts in recent memory. He finished the campaign with a 7.10 ERA in 19 appearances (15 starts), allowing 107 hits across 83.2 innings of work, including a whopping 24 home runs. His WHIP of 1.72 is just comically high.
It's hard to pitch worse than that. Walker, in his defense, was dealing with very real injuries, not to mention the ceaseless forward momentum of time. But he was unwatchable, unplayable, and above all else, way too quick to blame his coaches after the season.
That brings us to 2025. Walker is still under contract for $18 million annually these next two seasons, but that doesn't mean Dave Dombrowski will grace him with a guaranteed rotation spot. Heck, he's not even guaranteed a roster spot. The Phils traded for Jesus Luzardo this winter, immediately nixing Walker's chances of cracking the starting rotation. Meanwhile, newcomer Joe Ross is expected to occupy a swingman role in the bullpen, and Andrew Painter is trending toward his first MLB innings this season. Walker is buried.
That's what makes his one-man hype machine at spring training all the more amusing, in a sad sort of way.
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Taijuan Walker sounds desperate to prove his worth, but the Phillies don't need him
Walker was quick to move on from last season's failures. He's ready to turn the page and get back to productive outings for Philadelphia.
"It was one of those things where the season was over and I just automatically started looking forward to next season,” Walker told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “So I was able to flush it pretty quickly and just get started getting ready."
The 32-year-old completely overhauled his training regimen this offseason, which included the incorperation of weighted balls in an effort to increase velocity. He's throwing 91-92 MPH in bullpen sessions, which is a up from a year ago.
"Especially at this time, [my fastball velocity is] not even close to what it’s been in past years,” Walker said. “Even when I had good velo a couple years ago, my bullpens had still been like 86, 88 [mph]. But this year, uptick a lot."
In all fairness, Walker isn't completely alone in this self-praise. Dombrowski noted the vet's improved command.
"He commanded his pitches on both sides of the plate away from a right-handed hitter, which was not an easy thing for him to do last year."
Hey, maybe things really have changed! Walker was an All-Star in 2021, which isn't ancient history. There was a time when that $72 million contract felt like a perfectly reasonable investment from an aggressive Phillies front office. Walker has been through his share of ups and downs since arriving in Philadelphia. It will be hard not to improve upon last season's production.
Even if Walker has drastically elevated his performance level, however, does it matter? He's essentially relegated to bullpen duties unless Philadelphia gets struck by the injury bug. With Ross and Painter in the mix, Walker may very well be the seventh or eighth option to start games for Rob Thomson. The five-man gauntlet of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez, and Jesus Luzardo, assuming health, won't leave much airspace for the rotational fringe.
Walker needs to be confident in his own abilities. It's the only way a player can recover from a campaign like that. Still, there is more than enough reason for skepticism from Phillies fans and the coaching staff. Until Walker can put together an extended run of quality innings, it will be hard to buy this self-perpetuating narrative of redemption. He has been trending in the wrong direction for a while. The fountain of youth is hard to come by in baseball.