Facing a challenging 2024 season, Phillies pitcher Taijuan Walker is determined to regain his form and secure a prominent role on the team. Walker, who struggled in 2024 with career lows across various pitching metrics, has made significant changes to his offseason routine and is already seeing positive results in his velocity. He remains committed to improving his pitching arsenal, particularly his slider, and is focused on performing at his best regardless of whether he starts or comes out of the bullpen.
Owed $36 million over the next two years, Walker enters camp coming off a 'really bad' 2024 season . He says he's not focused on whether he starts or comes out of the bullpen. Walker, who has an unclear role on the roster this season despite two years and $36 million remaining on his contract, was in the first group of pitchers to throw an official bullpen session on reporting day. The 2024 season wasn't kind to Walker, who posted career lows in practically every statistical category — 7.
10 ERA, 1.721 WHIP, 2.6 home runs per nine innings — and ultimately was left off the Phillies playoff roster. Eager to turn the page, Walker approached the offseason completely differently this year. He started throwing earlier after taking only about three weeks off and had ramped up to max effort by December. 'It was one of those things where the season was over and I just automatically started looking forward to next season,' said Walker, 32. 'So I was able to flush it pretty quickly and just get started getting ready.' Walker also followed a different daily routine and used weighted balls to build his velocity. So far, he's seeing results. He said his fastball is around 91 to 92 mph. 'Especially at this time, 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 . But this year, uptick a lot.' During the 2022 season, just before the Phillies signed him to his current contract, Walker’s four-seam fastball averaged 92.8 mph. In 2024, it had fallen to 90.5 mph. '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,' Dombrowski said. Walker said his splitter, which had been his go-to pitch before he lost his feel for it last season, feels back to normal. He wants to focus on improving his slider to turn it into a more consistent swing-and-miss pitch. Walker had significant struggles with that area of his game in 2024, with his overall whiff rate of 16.7% ranking in the bottom 1% of all qualified MLB pitchers. Even following a more intense offseason than he’s accustomed to, Walker isn’t concerned about going too hard too early. 'I just think being smart about it,' Walker said. '... I feel really good right now, and I think I’m in a good spot. So I feel like I can let it eat if I need to.' After acquiring Jesús Luzardo from the Marlins in December, the Phillies seemingly have five rotation spots spoken for, which leaves Walker as the odd man out, barring injuries. Walker briefly spent time in a bullpen role last season after being removed from the rotation in late August, but Dombrowski said the Phillies plan to treat Walker as a starter this spring. 'Honestly, I’m really just focused on doing what I can do,' Walker said. 'Not really looking forward, looking at that at all, just really focused on my pitching, my command and stuff, and whatever happens, happens.
Taijuan Walker Phillies MLB 2024 Season Pitching Offseason Training Bullpen Rotation
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