The Phillies are moving struggling starter Taijuan Walker to the bullpen, Rob Thomson announced prior to Thursday’s game against the Atlanta Braves.
Walker was seen throwing in the outfield before batting practice on Thursday. The Phillies would like his first outing out of the bullpen to be a low leverage, one inning appearance. Then, the Phillies hope to build him up as a long reliever.
“I’m hoping the stuff will tick up, the velocity will tick up,” Thomson said on Thursday. “He’ll just get out there and power the ball through the zone.”
As for who will take his spot in the rotation, Thomson declined to reveal who it is because the player has not been informed. He will start Tuesday in Toronto against the Blue Jays. It should be noted that Tyler Phillips is eligible to be called back up to the big leagues on Sunday.
The Phillies are essentially trying to hide Walker. Through 14 starts in the rotation, Walker has a 6.50 ERA. He has allowed six earned runs in each of his last two starts. The Phillies have not won a game he has started since May 22. It will be a little easier to do this starting on Sunday, when rosters expand from 26 to 28 players. Only one of the two new roster additions can be a pitcher.
It’s a longer-term play, but by moving him to the bullpen as opposed to eating the nearly $40 million left on Walker’s contract, the Phillies could still at least talk themselves into him being a useful rotation piece in 2025.
“The program that he was on to try and gain velocity, we didn’t have enough time,” Thomson said. “That program is a long program. We sort of cut the program off early. I think if he has a full offseason of that program, we got a better chance of seeing some improvements.
“Like I said last night, I feel for him because he’s put so much time and effort into this thing and he’s worked extremely hard. Long toss, weighted balls, light balls, all kinds of stuff. He’s not the same guy that he was. Hopefully, with work over the offseason — and the rest of the season, we get that velocity back and that stuff back.”
But they are also going to miss out on the chance to optimize every spot in the bullpen. Maybe the Phillies could have used that spot to give a few other relievers on the 40-man roster a look as they try to figure out what their bullpen will look like come October.
Or maybe the Phillies just weren’t comfortable with the idea of admitting defeat.
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