SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Xander Bogaerts #2 of the San Diego Padres bats during the fifth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Petco Park on March 28, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
Taijuan Walker forcing Phillies into surprisingly tough decision…
The Philadelphia Phillies starting rotation got a major contributor back on Wednesday when left-handed starting pitcher Cristopher Sánchez returned to the mound after experiencing left forearm tightness and being pulled early during his previous start on April 22. Any lingering concerns about Sánchez’s health were quickly put to rest after the southpaw looked solid in five innings of work and earned his third win of the season in the Phillies’ 7-2 victory over the Washington Nationals.
And with fellow left-hander Ranger Suárez making his first start of the season on Sunday, all of a sudden, the Phillies have six starting pitchers and five rotation spots. That being said, there’s plenty of speculation surrounding what the Phillies plan to do with its surplus of pitching. While it once seemed like a no-brainer for the team to release Taijuan Walker at the end of spring training, his relative success in six starts this season has seemingly pumped the brakes on that conversation.
Taijuan Walker’s success is forcing Phillies into surprisingly tough rotation and bullpen decisions
The recent returns of both Suárez and Sánchez to the starting rotation has created an interesting situation for manager Rob Thomson. Much like last season when Walker’s return from the IL opened up talk of the team employing a six-man rotation, this time its Walker who could find himself the odd man out if the team chooses to go the more conventional route this time around.
Depending on who’s doing the reporting, various reports have hinted at the team using a six-man rotation going forward, while others, like The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, see Walker heading to the Phillies bullpen (subscription required).
Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle, but it’s still somewhat shocking that Walker’s spot on the 26-man roster is no longer up for debate. While his ultimate fate is still left to be determined, he deserves a lot of credit for putting in the work this offseason and showing that he has figured out how to pitch effectively again, despite a once concerning dip in velocity.
Walker’s relative success is certainly a shocking development however you choose to look at it. And while many Phillies fans have approached each of Walker’s starts with a healthy dose of skepticism and on-brand fatalism, to Walker’s credit, he’s impressively tuned out all the noise and has managed to give the Phillies mostly quality innings so far this season.
Without running the risk of hyperbole, the Walker comeback narrative arc is supported by his overall numbers through six starts. We all know by now that Walker’s never going to be the type of pitcher the Phillies thought they were getting when they signed him to a four-year, $72 million deal before the 2023 season, but with a 2.54 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP in 28 1/3 innings this year, the thought of the Phillies sending him out for five innings is no longer the scary proposition it once was.
But how the Phillies and manager Rob Thomson choose to proceed after Suárez’s start on Sunday remains a puzzle that will soon have to be figured out. While a six-man rotation including Walker could help preserve the wear and tear on the team’s most talented arms, some members of the rotation, like staff ace Zack Wheeler are notorious creatures of habit who like to start every fifth day.
If you add Walker to an already crowded Phillies’ bullpen, that decision could come at the expense of optioning established arms such as situational left-hander Tanner Banks or recently scuffling Orion Kerkering to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, or cutting bait altogether with late spring training waiver claim acquisition Carlos Hernández.
Ranger Suárez returns to the #Phillies rotation on Sunday.
Taijuan Walker has pitched well.
But Rob Thomson and the Phillies have a decision to make about what to do.
Rob Thomson’s massive Taijuan Walker blind spot doomed the Phillies again
Another classic Taijuan Walker misstep from Phillies manager Rob Thomson.
By
Christopher Kline
|
May 1, 2025
Taijuan Walker, Philadelphia Phillies
Taijuan Walker, Philadelphia Phillies | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
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On the surface, Taijuan Walker pitched another gem in the Philadelphia Phillies’ Thursday evening bout against the Washington Nationals. He went 5.2 innings, allowing just four hits, three walks, and one earned run.
It has been a shockingly productive campaign for Walker, who entered Thursday’s game with a 2.78 ERA and 1.37 WHIP through five starts. He still coughs up walks and gets into jams, but the difference between Walker in 2024 and 2025 has been night and day. He’s handling adversity with poise and putting Philadelphia in a position to win games each and every week.
And yet, we know the book on Walker. Maybe last season really was an injury-spurred fluke. Maybe we always should’ve put more stock into his 2023 campaign with the Phils — a solid, unspectacular 31-start effort in which he recorded only 138 strikeouts in 172.2 innings.
Walker can coax soft contact and keep base-runners in check, but at a certain point, the dam breaks and the runs come flooding in. He is not a late-game, high-leverage pitcher. He needs to be in and out at the first sign of real trouble, especially once the pitch count spikes.
Rob Thomson stuck with Walker deep into the sixth inning on Thursday after five clean frames — and Philadelphia paid the price.
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Rob Thomson once again stuck with Taijuan Walker too long in Phillies sixth-inning implosion
Walker was only responsible for one earned run on Thursday, but the final line is a bit misleading. The Nats piled on four runs in the sixth inning across seven batters that Walker faced before Orion Kerkering recorded the inning’s final out. A Bryce Harper error at first base and a Rafael Marchán passed ball made the last few runs “unearned,” but Walker gave up a couple RBI knocks and a walk to prolong the inning.
It’s difficult to overstate how good Walker has been compared to what we all bore witness to a year ago. If we rewind the discourse a few months, Phillies fans were ready to crowd-fund Walker’s plane ticket to a new franchise. Now, on the first of May, there is real debate over whether or not Philadelphia should deploy a six-man rotation upon Ranger Suárez’s return.
The 32-year-old righty deserves a ton of credit for attacking the offseason and coming back with a more dynamic arsenal. When Walker was initially bumped into the rotation due to Suárez’s preseason injury, there was a pervasive sense of dread throughout the Phillies fandom. He did not look particularly good in spring training and the 2024 campaign was best left forgotten. And yet, Walker has been an invaluable member of the Phillies rotation so far; Philly had won three of five games in which Walker took the mound prior to Thursday’s outing.
Still, the job of a manager is to read the room and operate proactively. Walker is not without his flaws and warning signs, and his weaknesses are often more exposed the deeper he pitches into a game. That issue is not unique to Walker — most pitchers struggle as pitch count inflates — but with Walker, he has been especially volatile across two-plus years in Philadelphia. There’s no reason to keep letting the base-runners and runs stack up, even if not every one is “earned.”
Walker deserves his spot in the rotation for now, but Thomson needs to keep a tight leash on him, especially with New York continuing to increase its lead in the division.
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