Taijuan Walker to begin season in rotation, Ranger Suárez to the IL

Phillies starter Ranger Suárez will begin the season on the 15-day injured list, manager Rob Thomson announced on the broadcast during the bottom of the seventh inning of the team’s Grapefruit League game against the Detroit Tigers in Clearwater. He is still managing a back injury.

Taijuan Walker will take his spot in the rotation. He is scheduled to start the spring finale on Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays. His first regular season start will be on Monday, April 3 against the Colorado Rockies.

“We don’t expect him to be out very long,” Thomson said about Suárez. “Maybe just a couple starts. Maybe three. We want to build him up. He’s kind of had a short spring. We just want to build him up properly so that we don’t have any of those back issues again.”

Suárez made only two Grapefruit League appearances this spring, with the last one coming on March 9. He had been throwing on the backfields. His unusual build up gave way to speculation that he was dealing with an injury. It was revealed on Wednesday that Suárez’s back was sore. He’s improving, but the Phillies have decided to slow play it. Suárez told reporters that the back injury is not as severe as the one he dealt with last year.

He missed about a month last summer due to lower back soreness.

“We just want to make sure this thing is right,” Thomson said. “He’s played catch the last couple of days. In the next couple of days, he’ll have a bullpen [session]. Probably a couple bullpens, see some hitters and then start building him back up.”

Thomson hinted that Suárez will not be fully built up once his season begins, meaning he may only go three or four innings in his first start.

The Phillies can backdate Suárez’s IL placement three days from the beginning of the season. If the team is guessing that he will miss up to three starts, he could be back around the weekend of Easter when the team is home to face the Miami Marlins.

After a horrible 2024 season, Walker is at least temporarily back in the rotation. The right-hander had a strong spring, up until his last start on Wednesday. He gave up six earned runs on nine hits, including three home runs, against the Yankees. Before that, Walker allowed just four earned runs combined in three starts.

In other injury news, Matt Strahm is scheduled to pitch out of the bullpen in Monday’s game against the Rays. If all goes well, he will be on the Opening Day roster.