Phillies news and rumors 3/21: Taijuan Walker shaky in penultimate spring outing

Taijuan Walker is in year two of his four-year, $72 million contract. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire)

Taijuan Walker is up against the clock.

The Phillies’ fourth starter made his second start of Spring Training on Wednesday against the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota, and it didn’t exactly instill tons of confidence with a week and a half until his scheduled regular-season debut.

Walker allowed seven runs in 2 2/3 innings. But most concerning wasn’t the scoring, the five hits, the three homers, the trio of walks or the lone strikeout. Most concerning was his velocity. Statcast information wasn’t available from that particular game, but reports have Walker sitting between 88 and 92 mph with his four-seam fastball.

It’s obviously far from where the Phillies want Walker to be this late in Spring Training, even if he was slowed early by knee soreness and thus didn’t debut until March 9. It’s also not conducive to solving the first-inning problems that plagued him to the tune of a 7.04 ERA last season. (He allowed five runs in the opening frame Wednesday.)

Walker was adamant, after his start, that he feels good physically and that he believes he’s not far from unlocking an uptick in velocity. “It’s a lot different with 40,000 fans in the regular season,” he said, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “If I’m topping out at 93 here, then who knows in the regular season?”

“He’s trying to find it,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Hopefully he does in the next week or two.”

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