Categories: 2023 Postgame Recaps

Why Taijuan Walker is likely to make postseason roster

Taijuan Walker ends the season with a 4.38. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Mets 4, Phillies 3

Taijuan Walker gave the Phillies a really good start on Saturday in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the New York Mets.

He allowed four runs over seven innings against his former club in a 4-3 loss against the Mets. He’ll end his first year in Philadelphia with a 4.38 ERA.

He did his job. The Phillies needed him to eat innings as they try to navigate the last three games of the season and he did just that.

The results do not matter today, but his start was emblematic of how his second half has gone.

He allowed three runs in the first, another run in the second on a solo shot from Omar Narvaez and then did not allow a hit for the rest of his outing.

It was a perplexing first season in red pinstripes for Walker. He was incredible for the Phillies since his last start in New York up until his first start after the All-Star break. In seven games from early June to mid July, Walker went 7-0 with a 1.64 ERA over 44 innings. He rebounded in a big way from a tough first two months. He lowered his ERA from 5.65 on June 1 to 3.91 on July 15.

He’s a big reason why the Phillies were able to save their season in June. That should not be forgotten.

At the same time, he has not pitched well enough down the stretch to be among the Phillies’ top three options to start in a playoff game. Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez are all theoretically higher on the depth chart.

The walks and the first inning struggles are among Walker’s biggest issues. He has walked 22 in his last eight starts and has a 7.04 ERA in the first inning this season. He’s great at managing his pitch count and getting through outings without his best command, which he did in Saturday’s game, but the first inning issues and command slips make the idea of starting him in the postseason a tenuous one.

It’s fair to wonder how the Phillies will utilize Walker in the postseason if he’s not starting. He doesn’t possess the situational flexibility that most relievers in the bullpen have, but that doesn’t mean the Phillies will leave him off the roster entirely.

Manager Rob Thomson was asked a week ago if the Phillies could get away with carrying only three starters on the Wild Card roster and he had this to say.

“The extra inning rules change,” Thomson said on Sept. 24. “It goes back to normal. So if you get into a 16-inning game, you better have protection. That’s where those guys come in to play.”

The Phillies avoided longer games last October. Game 1 of the World Series, which the Phillies won in 10 innings thanks to a J.T. Realmuto solo home run, was the only extra-inning game the team played in the 2022 postseason. They can’t bet on avoiding these kind of games again, so they’re going to need someone like Walker who is not scheduled to start, but is able to throw 100 pitches when his name is called.

“It’s whatever the team needs,” Walker said in his last start when asked about his postseason role. “Start, relief, one inning, two innings, whatever it is. It’s all hands on deck, whatever is needed.”

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