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Taijuan Walker

Phillies Moving Taijuan Walker To Short Relief

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For the second time in as many months, the Phillies are pulling right-hander Taijuan Walker from their starting rotation. Paul Casella of MLB.com reported this morning that Walker’s being moved to the bullpen permanently in a move that will clear the way for right-hander Mick Abel to be promoted to the majors and fill in for Aaron Nola in the starting rotation. Matt Gelb of The Athletic added further context to that reporting, noting that Walker is specifically moving to a one-inning, setup role in order to help bolster the club’s late-inning mix. Meanwhile, Gelb notes that Abel will get at least two starts for the Phillies before Nola’s return, which the club currently expects to occur near the middle of June.

It’s a big change for Walker, who has just ten career relief appearances and has served exclusively as a long relief arm in those outings. Gelb notes that Walker has never pitched on back-to-back days before in his career, an adjustment that will surely take some getting used to for the right-hander. Still, it’s understandable for Philadelphia to want to try him in this new role given the state of their pitching staff. Abel is knocking on the door of the majors as a potential rotation option with top prospect Andrew Painter potentially not all that far behind, and the Phillies’ rotation is already full when healthy. Without much of a path to a long-term rotation role in the cards for Walker anyway, it makes sense for the club to try him in a new role.

Given that the Phillies recently lost Jose Alvarado to a PED suspension, saw Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez depart in free agency over the winter, and have watched Jordan Romano struggle badly this year after being signed to serve as the club’s closer, there’s perhaps no greater need on the roster than that for a high leverage relief arm to join Matt Strahm in supporting Romano. Walker will now be tasked with doing just that, and Gelb notes that he seemed intrigued by the idea after his last start.

“If I have one inning to blow it out, whatever it is, I feel like my stuff would play up just a little bit more,” Walker said last week, as relayed by Gelb. “Knowing that I got one inning, just let it eat.”

Walker’s departure from the rotation makes room for Abel to join the mix, at least temporarily. The right-hander made his big league debut earlier this season in a spot start and was extremely impressive, tossing six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts against zero walks. The Phillies were clearly intrigued by that dazzling performance, and now he’ll get to make at least a couple additional starts. Abel is set to join the club to start Thursday’s game against the Blue Jays, and Gelb notes that after that he’ll be in line to start against the Cubs next week. Those offenses are far more impressive than the Pirates lineup Abel dominated in his big league debut, so these next pair of outings will be a major test for the 23-year-old right-hander.

Phillies Place Aaron Nola On IL With Ankle Sprain

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The Phillies announced that they have placed right-hander Aaron Nola on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 15th, due to a sprained right ankle. Right-hander Daniel Robert has been recalled to take his roster spot. Todd Zolecki of MLB.com was among those to report that prospect Mick Abel will be promoted to make his major league debut but only to make a spot start on Sunday. After that, he will be optioned to Triple-A and Taijuan Walker will take Nola’s rotation spot. In other Philly news, manager Rob Thomson relayed that prospect Moisés Chace will undergo Tommy John surgery. Lochlahn March of the Philadelphia Inquirer was among those to pass that along.

Per March, Nola injured his ankle prior to his recent start in Cleveland. He went on to allow four earned runs in five innings in that game. His next start was even worse, as Nola allowed nine earned runs over 3 2/3 innings against the Cardinals on Wednesday.

Perhaps the ankle injury provides an explanation for those outings but Nola was also struggling before that, with a 4.61 earned run average over his first seven starts this year. Though for what it’s worth, he was building a bit of momentum. On April 27th, he pitched seven innings of one-run ball against the Cubs, then six scoreless against the Diamondbacks on May 3rd.

Whether it’s due to the ankle or not, Nola now has a 6.16 ERA on the year. His 23.6% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 44.6% ground ball rate are all decent numbers, but 11 home runs have pushed more runs across the plate. SIERA, which expects home run rate to normalize, has Nola at 3.66 this year. However, home runs have always been a part of Nola’s game, so that might not be the best metric in this specific instance. The Phillies haven’t provided an estimate for how long they expect Nola to be out but it seems he will miss at least a few turns.

Nola’s injury will allow Walker to return to the rotation. He started his season with six great starts, posting a 2.54 ERA in those. But when Ranger Suárez was ready to come off the IL, someone had to go. Walker got bumped to the bullpen as the Phils ran with a rotation of Suárez, Nola, Zack Wheeler, Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez. Walker made two relief appearances, each three innings long. The first was scoreless but he allowed three earned runs in the second one, which came in relief of Nola on Wednesday.

He’ll retake a rotation spot next week, but Abel will get to make his major league debut in the interim. A former first-round pick, Abel’s prospect stock has dropped a bit due to some inconsistent control. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 375 minor league innings and struck out 26.9% of batters faced but he also gave out walks at a 13.3% clip, leading to a 4.75 ERA.

Despite the rough edges, the Phils added him to their 40-man roster in November, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. The early results are encouraging this year. He has a 2.53 ERA through eight Triple-A starts, with a 26.6% strikeout rate and 49.2% ground ball rate. His 9.9% walk rate is still a bit higher than par but an improvement for him. He’ll get a chance to make a brief debut this weekend.

As for Chace, it’s obviously an unfortunate blow for him. Acquired from the Orioles in last summer’s Gregory Soto trade, Chace is one of the club’s top pitching prospects and a fringe top 100 guy. He wasn’t on every list but FanGraphs had him at #74 coming into the year, ESPN at #90 and Baseball Prospectus put him in their #101 slot.

Like Abel, Chace was given a 40-man spot in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He started this year at Double-A and could have worked his way to Triple-A or even the majors during the 2025 season. That will now be on pause for a long time, as he should be rehabbing until the summer of 2026. The Phils could recall him and place him on the major league 60-day injured list at some point if they so choose. Doing so would open a 40-man spot but would also require Chace to start earning big league pay and service time.

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

Phillies Moving Taijuan Walker To Bullpen

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After activating southpaw Ranger Suarez from the 15-day injured list earlier today, the Phillies are making a change to their rotation mix to get back down to five starters. As manager Rob Thomson told reporters, including Lochlan March of the Philly Inquirer, that means a move to the bullpen for right-hander Taijuan Walker. Thomson did not rule out the possibility of a six-man rotation in the future, but with an day off on Monday the Phillies are planning to use five starters for at least the next couple of weeks.

Walker’s been in the rotation since Opening Day and has pitched quite well in his six starts this year. The 32-year-old has an impressive 2.54 ERA (125 ERA+) in 28 1/3 innings of work, although his peripherals are not quite as impressive. A 17.6% strikeout rate is well below par, and Walker’s 10.4% walk rate is much too high for a pitcher who’s missing bats at a below-average clip. He’s done well to mostly keep the barrel of the ball and induce soft contact so far, but peripherals like his 4.01 FIP and 4.71 SIERA suggest that he’s more of a number five type starter than the mid-rotation results he’s posting so far.

Of course, even being a serviceable back-of-the-rotation piece is a massive improvement over Walker’s performance last year. 2024 was the right-hander’s second season in Philadelphia, and it could have hardly gone worse as he pitched to a brutal 7.10 ERA with a 6.94 FIP in 83 2/3 innings of work spread between 15 starts and four relief outings. Following a season where Walker had more appearances where he allowed at least four runs (seven) than where he allowed two runs or less (six), the right-hander’s position within the Phillies organization was unstable enough that the club opted to trade for Jesus Luzardo and sign Joe Ross in a bid to make Walker less necessary. That left some to suggest he was in danger of being cut ahead of Opening Day entering camp, but the injury to Suarez paved the way for Walker to not only remain on the roster but in the club’s rotation.

Though he’s headed back to the bullpen at this point, Walker’s solid work over the season’s first month was more than enough to solidify his roster spot, and at this point the question regarding Walker is no longer whether he can avoid a disastrous repeat of 2024, but rather if he can continue pitching well enough to force Philadelphia brass into considering a six-man staff at some point this year. Of course, the Phillies wouldn’t necessarily need to consider a six-man rotation in order for Walker to make his way back into the mix, as he’s presumably the next man up to make starts until the Phillies decide to promote Andrew Painter.

The Phillies have generally enjoyed good health in their rotation mix in recent years, but injuries are always a risk when it comes to starting pitchers. There’s no better proof of this concept than veteran right-hander Aaron Nola, who has been one of the most durable and reliable innings-eating arms in the sport for nearly a decade at this point. As noted by Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, however, Nola was experiencing a neck issue prior to today’s game. That led the Phillies to activate Suarez from the injured list today rather than the day of his planned start tomorrow in case they needed a starter to help cover for Nola. Fortunately, Nola wasn’t stopped from pitching by the neck problem and went on to pitch six shutout innings while striking out eight in the club’s 7-2 win over the Diamondbacks this evening. Even so, the last-minute injury scare serves as a reminder that an opening could open in the Philadelphia rotation at any given moment, and it would be a surprise to see Walker passed over for any spot start opportunities as long as he remains effective in his move back to the bullpen.

Phillies To Activate Ranger Suarez On Sunday

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Ranger Suárez has made four rehab starts since beginning a minor league assignment three weeks ago. That includes 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball for Triple-A Lehigh Valley over the weekend. After building to 78 pitches, he’ll make his return to the majors this weekend. Manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer) that Suárez will be activated to start against Arizona on Sunday.

That may push Philadelphia to a six-man rotation. Thomson acknowledged yesterday that the Phils were considering moving to a six-man staff rather than bumping anyone to the bullpen (link via Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia). Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Jesús Luzardo, Cristopher Sánchez and Taijuan Walker have combined for every Phils start this season.

Walker was the one who would have been ticketed for the bullpen had Suárez been healthy. He’d be the candidate to move back to relief, but he has pitched fairly well through his first five starts. Walker owns a 2.78 ERA across 22 2/3 innings. His 20% strikeout rate and 10% walk percentage are each a little worse than average, but he has allowed two or fewer runs in all but one of his outings. Walker has found a little extra velocity relative to last season. He’s averaging 92 MPH on both his four-seam and sinker after sitting around 91 a year ago.

Luzardo, Wheeler and Sánchez have all been excellent. Nola has struggled while operating with diminished velocity, but his rotation spot clearly isn’t any jeopardy. The Phils have already confirmed that Suárez will return to the rotation, while Sánchez’s recent forearm soreness seemingly amounted to nothing. The question is essentially whether the Phils feel Walker will be more valuable in a long relief role or taking the ball every sixth day.

Walker will make at least one more start. He’s tabbed as the probable pitcher tomorrow against Brad Lord in their series finale against Washington. Wheeler and Sánchez have gone over the past two days. The Phils will run with Luzardo, Nola and Suárez against the D-Backs. They’re off on Monday before a stretch of nine game days.

While the rotation has been a strength, Philadelphia’s relief group has struggled. Their bullpen entered play Wednesday with a 5.25 ERA that was better only the Nationals’ 7.47 mark. No bullpen has blown more leads than Philadelphia’s eight. José Alvarado, Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks (to a lesser extent) are the only Phils relievers who have pitched well. Righties Orion Kerkering and Jordan Romano, both of whom have worked in high-leverage spots, have each had particularly poor starts. Walker is unlikely to be an impact relief weapon, but he’d give Thomson another option in the middle to late innings if they move him back to the bullpen after tomorrow.

Ranger Suarez To Begin Season On Injured List; Taijuan Walker To Rejoin Rotation

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March 24: Suarez will indeed open the 2025 season on the injured list, per Zolecki. Walker will be the Phillies’ fifth starter. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski tells the Phillies beat that Suarez could potentially pitch in the majors sometime in April if he continues his current progression with no setbacks.

March 23: Ranger Suarez has been dealing with a bad back over the last week, and it seems like the Phillies will give the left-hander some extra time to recover by placing him on the 15-day injured list to begin the season.  Manager Rob Thomson more or less confirmed the move today, as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki noted that Thomson told reporters post-game that the Phillies “expect Ranger to go on the IL,” but stated in an interview during the game that Suarez would definitively be placed on the 15-day.

The move seems largely precautionary, as Thomson said “We don’t want this thing to linger. So if we do officially IL him, we don’t think it’s going to be long.”  Zolecki notes that Suarez might just miss a single start if he spends only the 15-day minimum on the sidelines, due to the three-day backdating available for IL placements and the fact that the Phillies have three off-days within the first 12 days of the regular season.

Back problems hampered Suarez last year, effectively bifurcating what initially seemed like a breakout season for the left-hander.  Suarez had a sparkling 1.83 ERA over his first 98 1/3 innings of the 2024 campaign, and then a 6.54 ERA in his final 52 1/3 innings once his back started causing problems.  Suarez skipped the All-Star Game to spend the break resting his back, but Philadelphia ended up placing him on the 15-day IL anyway, which kept Suarez out of action for a month.

This early-season IL trip might well help Suarez get in front of any injury problems early, as trying to pitch through his bad back might’ve only worsened the issue last year.  The Phillies aren’t really losing much by resting him early, plus Taijuan Walker is on hand to step into the rotation.

Walker has looked good for much of Spring Training, though his last start saw the Yankees tee off for six earned runs over 3 2/3 innings of work from the right-hander.  As always, spring results aren’t necessarily as important as process, and Zolecki writes that Walker’s four-seamer has added over three miles miles per hours of added velocity, plus Walker’s splitter has also looked better.  In a sense, there’s nowhere to go but up for Walker after a dismal 2024 season that saw him post a 7.10 ERA in 83 2/3 innings.

Phillies Exploring Outfield, Right-Handed Relief Markets

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The Phillies head into the offseason with a star-studded roster and substantial payroll obligation, though owner John Middleton has already expressed confidence that the 2025 payroll will increase. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has at multiple points hinted at potential trades rather than free agent pursuits, speaking of a need to be “open-minded” as he looks to augment a roster that’s been a perennial playoff club but fallen shy of a World Series win (or even a World Series appearance). The Athletic’s Matt Gelb reports that the Phils have signaled a desire to add an outfielder and at least one right-handed reliever.

As laid out in our Phillies Offseason Outlook, adding in the outfield is one of the most logical pursuits for a Phillies club that has established contributors at catcher (J.T. Realmuto), first base (Bryce Harper), second base (Bryson Stott), shortstop (Trea Turner), third base (Alec Bohm), right field (Nick Castellanos) and designated hitter (Kyle Schwarber). Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas offer options in the remaining two outfield spots, but the Phils aren’t likely to simply roll the same lineup back out in 2024 after another shorter-than-hoped season. Marsh and Rojas could form a platoon, as Marsh bats left-handed to the more defensively gifted Rojas’ right-handed bat. That’d open a path for one incoming outfielder, but Dombrowski’s repeated chorus of “open-minded” approaches to reshaping his offense have prompted natural speculation about trades.

From that standpoint, it’s hard to imagine deals involving Realmuto, Harper, Turner and Schwarber. All have been viewed as core pieces in Philadelphia. The Phillies would probably love to move on from the final two years and $40MM on Castellanos’ contract, but Castellanos is a poor defender who hasn’t hit nearly as well in Philadelphia as he did in his free-agent platform season with the Reds. The Phils would need to pay down a good portion of that contract and/or include a prospect to find a taker.

Bohm, Marsh, Stott and to a lesser extent Rojas are the big league position players who could more plausibly be flipped elsewhere as the Phillies try to reshape their identity. Gelb also lists lefty starter Ranger Suarez as a possibility. Their contractual statuses are as follows:

  • Suarez: Controlled through 2025 via arbitration, projected to earn $8.9MM in 2025 (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)
  • Bohm: Controlled through 2026 via arbitration, projected to earn $8.1MM in 2025 (via Swartz)
  • Marsh: Controlled through 2027 via arbitration, projected to earn $3MM in 2025 (via Swartz)
  • Stott: Controlled through 2027 via arbitration, projected to earn $3.5MM in 2025 (via Swartz)
  • Rojas: Controlled through 2029, pre-arbitration in 2025

Obviously, the valuation on each player will vary. Suarez would be a one-year rental for a club and would require the Phils — already in need of a starter and likely hoping to dump the remaining two years and $36MM on Taijuan Walker’s contract this offseason — to replace him. He posted a 3.46 ERA with strong strikeout (23.2%) and walk (6.5%) rates in 150 2/3 innings this season but also missed a month with a back injury and struggled from July through September. Plenty of teams would still love to plug him into their rotation.

Bohm is the most consistently productive but has the highest salary and lowest amount of club control remaining of the position players. He also cooled off considerably after a blistering start to the season. He was one of the game’s most productive hitters through early March (.360/.430/.576 in 142 plate appearances) before reverting to his usual brand of roughly average offense for the remainder of the season (.256/.302/.410 over his next 464 plate appearances). Bohm improved his glovework this year and hit righties better than usual but was still notably more productive against left-handed pitching.

Marsh can handle all three outfield spots but is best suited for left field. He’s never hit lefties well but is well above-average versus righties. He runs well and could probably pop 20 homers with a full season of at-bats, though that’d mean lesser rate stats and more plate appearances versus lefties. He’s hit 28 homers in 948 plate appearances across the past two seasons. Marsh is a useful part-time player, but his 31% strikeout rate since 2023 (and 32.8% career mark) is rather concerning, especially since he’s been platooned so often.

Stott is a plus defender and strong baserunner with 15-homer pop. He makes plenty of contact but has really only had one average season at the plate (2023), in addition to a pair of below-average campaigns during which he’s still been a solid overall contributor because of his glove and speed. If a team with budget problems and no concrete option at shortstop would view him as an outside-the-box candidate at short, his market could expand. Stott hasn’t graded as well there in 770 big league innings but has more than 2000 professional innings at short.

Rojas is an even more extreme case of the speed-and-defense skill set. He’s a plus center fielder with excellent speed but turned in just a .243/.279/.322 slash in 2024 (68 wRC+) and is a career .261/.298/.355 hitter (81 wRC+) in 527 big league plate appearances.

Dombrowski has publicly suggested that he needs to be open to trading “good players” in order to get talent in return. Speculatively speaking, Bohm feels like the most plausible fit, as he’s set to earn the most money, has the least club control remaining and plays a position (third base) where the free-agent market is quite thin this offseason. There could be paths to flipping Bohm for a bullpen arm, a back-of-the-rotation starter or an outfielder, and shedding his payroll could also free the Phillies to pursue other options at the hot corner or give them more money to address needs elsewhere on the roster.

Former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and longtime Phils beat writers Todd Zolecki and Jim Salisbury took a deep dive into the possibilities on the latest episode of their podcast. All three acknowledged that Dombrowski’s repeated phrases this offseason have not-so-quietly signaled a trade is likely. In addition to repeating the “open-minded” line on several occasions, Dombrowski has at least twice suggested the Phillies have enough star players on the roster. At his end-of-season press conference, Dombrowski said his club has “as many star players as about anybody in baseball” before adding that sometimes “the supporting cast” is where the biggest need sits.

Gelb notes in the previously referenced piece that Dombrowski doubled down on that thinking at this week’s GM Meetings. Asked if the Phils would be “big-game hunting” this winter, the Phils’ president replied: “Our ownership allows us to do a lot of things. But sometimes that’s not what you want. We have a lot of good star players on our team. So, read that as you would.”

Phillies Moving Taijuan Walker Back To Rotation

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Taijuan Walker will make his return to the Phillies’ rotation on Thursday against the Mets, manager Rob Thomson told reporters (link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). Philadelphia had moved the veteran righty to the bullpen at the end of August.

Walker made three relief appearances. He gave up two runs in three innings against the Blue Jays on September 3 and surrendered three runs in two innings to the Marlins four days later. Walker is coming off a better showing on Saturday, when he held the Mets scoreless over three frames. In total, he has allowed five runs (four earned) with only two strikeouts in eight innings since the bullpen move.

That’s not exactly a dominant performance, but the Phils haven’t had a better answer for the fifth starter role. Tyler Phillips, Seth Johnson and Kolby Allard each got one look in the #5 rotation spot. Phillips didn’t make it out of the first inning and gave up six runs against Toronto. Johnson allowed nine runs and didn’t get through the third inning versus Miami in his MLB debut. The Mets tagged Allard for four runs over three innings on Saturday. Johnson and Phillips have already been optioned back to Triple-A; Matt Gelb of the Athletic tweets that Allard will move to the bullpen.

Philadelphia’s fifth starter role has been a mess since Spencer Turnbull suffered a lat strain in June. Walker has a 6.50 earned run average across 14 starts. Cameos for Michael Mercado and the aforementioned trio of Phillips, Johnson and Allard have yielded disastrous results.

Fortunately, that shouldn’t be a big deal in the postseason. Thomson can cut down to his excellent top four of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez. Walker should return to the bullpen in October if he makes the playoff roster. An injury to any of Philadelphia’s top four starters would make things a lot less comfortable, but they’re trending towards a first-round bye with the kind of high-end rotation talent they can rely upon in the postseason.

For now, Walker will have a couple chances to try to finish the regular season on a high note. After Thursday’s start in Queens, he’ll be lined up for a home outing against the Cubs. The Phils only need to turn to their fifth starter twice more in the regular season. They could try to line Walker up for the final start against Washington on September 29 if they’re already locked into the #1 or 2 seed in the National League and want to give an extra day of rest to their projected postseason rotation.

Phillies Move Taijuan Walker To Bullpen

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The Phillies are moving right-hander Taijuan Walker to the bullpen. Manager Rob Thomson informed reporters today, including Matt Gelb of The Athletic, who suggests that Tyler Phillips is likely to take the open rotation slot.

Going into the 2023 season, the Phils signed Walker to a four-year, $72MM deal. His first season in Philadelphia was serviceable enough, as he posted a 4.38 earned run average while taking the ball 31 times. The team didn’t give him a postseason start, however, going with a rotation of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez, while Cristopher Sánchez made one start as well.

2024 has been far more trying. Walker began the season on the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation. He was reinstated from the IL in late April but went back on the shelf just under two months later due to right index finger inflammation. That second trip to the shelf lasted from late June to the middle of August.

Around those IL stints, he has made 14 starts with a 6.50 ERA. His 16.8% strikeout rate is a career low, apart from 2018 when he made just three starts for the Diamondbacks prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery. His four-seam fastball is averaging 91.5 miles per hour this year, whereas he has been in the 93-95 range for much of his career. He has allowed six earned runs in each of his past two starts.

In the short term, Walker’s poor performance isn’t going to sink the club. Their 78-55 record is one of the best in the majors. They have a five-game lead over Atlanta in the East and would almost certainly have a Wild Card spot even if that club runs them down.

Each of Wheeler, Nola, Suárez and Sánchez are having good seasons, giving the club a strong front four that should carry them through the end of the season and into the playoffs, as long as everyone is healthy. The extra off-days in the postseason generally allow club to get by with three or four starters, rather than five or six in the regular season.

Rosters expand from 26 to 28 on September 1, with clubs able to go from 13 pitchers to 14 as the maximum allowed. Having Walker as an expensive long reliever in the bullpen shouldn’t be too cumbersome from a roster construction point of view.

The long-term question is a bit more complicated. Walker’s deal pays him even salaries of $18MM in each year of his deal, meaning there will still be two years and $36MM remaining as of this winter. As Gelb highlights, teams rarely give up on players with that much money still to be paid out, usually hoping that some kind of bounceback will come to pass. He does mention a few exceptions, listing Pablo Sandoval as the player released with the most money still owed: $48.3MM. A few other listed examples include Robinson Canó ($37.6MM), José Abreu ($35MM) and Madison Bumgarner ($34MM).

Walker will be in that range but Gelb also adds that the club still feels there’s a path for getting him on track next year, which will be his age-32 campaign. “The program that he was on to try and gain velocity, we didn’t have enough time,” Thomson said. “Like, that program’s a long program, and we sort of cut the program off early. I think if he has a full offseason of that program, we have a better chance of seeing some improvement.”

Gelb adds that the club had Walker on a weighted ball program while he was out with the aforementioned finger injury. As mentioned earlier, his velocity has been down this year. Perhaps he’s never been 100% healthy this year and has a path to get back on track in future seasons.

That could lead the Phillies to being patient to see how things play out next year, but it’s possible the rotation will get more crowded over time. Wheeler, Nola and Sánchez are all signed through at least 2027, while Suárez still has one more arbitration season left, so he should be around through 2025. Prospect Andrew Painter could be more an option by then. He almost cracked the club’s rotation in 2023 but injuries put a stop to that and he eventually underwent Tommy John surgery last summer.

Gelb relays that Painter recently had a setback in his recovery but the club characterizes it as normal soreness for this part of the rehab process. He was also slowed by an illness recently. He will likely have workload restrictions in 2025 since he only threw 103 2/3 innings in 2022, followed by two lost seasons. Nonetheless, he is still ranked as one of the top pitching prospects in the sport and could be pushing for a big league debut next year.

Ideally, Walker will simply return to form and make this a non-issue. After returning from his aforementioned Tommy John surgery, he posted a 3.80 ERA over the 2020-22 seasons, which is what prompted the Phils to bring him aboard. Even if Painter gets in good form next year, there’s no guarantees that the other four will be healthy, so Walker could certainly be needed. Suárez could also depart in free agency prior to 2026, the final year of Walker’s deal. Though if the struggles from Walker continue, the temptation to release him may grow, especially as the money still owed to him shrinks over time.

For now, the club will turn the ball over to Phillips. He has debuted this year and thrown 36 innings with a 5.50 ERA. Gelb also suggests that Kolby Allard could be a candidate to take a spot. However, the lefty was just optioned on August 26 and needs to wait 15 days from that date before being recalled, unless he’s replacing someone going on the injured list. Allard has a 3.50 ERA in his 18 innings this year. He has a 5.92 ERA in his big league career and a 5.45 ERA in Triple-A this year.

Michael Mercado Joining Phillies’ Rotation

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The Phillies have seen a pair of starters go down with injuries in the past week, as Taijuan Walker hit the injured list with a hand injury and Spencer Turnbull will be out up to eight weeks due to a lat strain. That’s left a vacancy at the back of Philly’s rotation, and it’ll be filled — at least in the short-term — by 25-year-old righty Michael Mercado, reports Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

A second-round pick by the Rays in 2017, Mercado’s journey to Philadelphia’s big league staff in some ways mirrors that of new rotation-mate Christopher Sanchez. Both were traded from the Rays to the Phillies in prospect-for-prospect swaps that drew minimal attention at the time of the deal. Sanchez’s trade became one of note, as he’s risen his profile while infielder Curtis Mead (who went back to the Rays) emerged as one of Tampa Bay’s top prospects. Mercado is newer to the Phillies organization, having been acquired last November in exchange for minor league lefty Adam Leverett.

Since landing with the Phillies, Mercado’s results have been excellent. He’s pitched in 14 games with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, 10 of them starts, and posted a sterling 1.71 ERA in 47 1/3 frames. His 22.8% strikeout rate, 11.9% walk rate and .240 average on balls in play all suggest that ERA could be in for some regression, but it’s been a big step forward over his 2023 performance even if the microscopic earned run average doesn’t look entirely sustainable.

Mercado split the ’23 season between Double-A and Triple-A in the Rays’ system and worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen, pitching to a combined 4.79 ERA. To his credit, he fanned a massive 35.4% of his opponents working in short relief where his stuff could play up, but he also walked more than 13% of his opponents and surrendered a dozen longballs in 62 innings (1.74 HR/9).

At the time he was drafted, Mercado required an over-slot commitment to forgo his college commitment to Stanford. Baseball America called him “one of the most polished and projectable high school pitchers” in the 2017 draft class, ranking him as that year’s No. 48 draft prospect. He jumped right into the Rays’ top 15 prospects the following season. He suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament not long after the draft, however, wiping out his entire 2019 season. Like all other minor leaguers, he also lost the 2020 season when the Covid-19 pandemic led MLB to cancel the minor league campaign entirely. Home runs and walks continued to outweigh Mercado’s strong strikeout numbers throughout the remaining three years of his Rays tenure.

Now, with the Phillies in need of rotation help, Mercado will get a short-term look at the very least. Turnbull is out until at least mid-August. Walker won’t be eligible to return until at least July 7 and has struggled to an ugly 5.60 ERA in 10 starts even when healthy this season. Top Phillies pitching prospect Andrew Painter has yet to pitch this season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The organization’s other top-ranked arm, former first-rounder Mick Abel, has an alarming 7.08 ERA and 15.5% walk rate in Triple-A this season. Depth options on the 40-man roster like Kolby Allard and Max Castillo have also pitched poorly in Triple-A.

All of that has paved the way for Mercado to get his first big league starting opportunity, more than seven years after he was selected with the No. 40 overall pick in the draft. The Phillies have one of the most enviable starting staffs in MLB with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez and the aforementioned Sanchez leading the way, which should take some pressure off Mercado. But depending on how long Walker is out and how he and Mercado perform in the short-term, the former Rays prospect could pitch his way into a more prominent role with the Phils. Mercado already made his MLB debut this week, tossing one scoreless inning after being called up as a reliever, but a larger opportunity is now there for the taking.

Phillies Place Taijuan Walker On 15-Day Injured List

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The Phillies announced this morning that they’ve placed right-hander Taijuan Walker on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right index finger. Right-hander Michael Mercado was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move. Mercado’s first appearance will be his big league debut.

Walker, 32 in August, has had a difficult 2024 season as he’s dealt with both injuries and ineffectiveness. A shoulder impingement delayed his season debut until the tail end of April, and he’s struggled considerably in ten starts since then. The righty sports a 5.60 ERA and 5.77 FIP overall on the season, figures that are 37% and 40% worse than the league average respectively. Just two of Walker’s ten appearances have been quality starts, and opponents have batted an eye-popping .278/.353/.511 against him in seven starts dating back to May 16. In other words, Walker’s opponents have teed off in recent weeks to achieve results roughly comparable to those Guardians star Jose Ramirez (.271/.330/.528) has posted this season.

Walker’s struggles came to a head Friday night against the Diamondbacks, when the righty allowed four runs on five hits and three walks across just four innings of work while striking out only three batters. Manager Rob Thomson told reporters (as noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) yesterday that Walker was dealing with a “hot spot” on his finger and suggested that the issue has “been probably going on for a while.” Specifically, Thomson suggested that the injury may have impacted the efficacy of Walker’s splitter. The splitter was Walker’s most commonly used pitch last year, when he threw it 33.2% of the time according to Statcast. That usage has dropped to just 17.4% in 2024, and MLB.com notes that he’s thrown the pitch just sixteen times total over his past two starts.

That drop in usage has corresponded with a drop in efficacy. 2023 saw opposing hitters hit just .205 against Walker’s splitter, with a .295 slugging percentage and a .257 wOBA. Those strong results are a far cry for what the right-hander has produced with the pitch this year, as opponents have hit a whopping .426 with a .704 slugging percentage and a wOBA of .477. That .426 figure is the highest average allowed by Walker on any pitch this year, in sharp contrast to last year where his splitter boasted a lower average against than any pitch in his repertoire except for his rarely-used sweeper.

Given the fact that Walker’s finger issue has seemingly impacted his ability to throw his most important pitch, it’s hardly a surprise that the right-hander has suffered such extreme difficulties to this point in the season. Going forward, the Phillies will sit the righty down for at least the next two weeks in order to give the inflammation time to settle down. It’s surely a fairly easy decision for Philadelphia to not have Walker continue to try and play through the issue given the presence of right-hander Spencer Turnbull. Turnbull has been excellent for the club this year while swinging between the rotation and the bullpen, with a 2.63 ERA and 3.57 FIP in 51 1/3 innings across 16 appearances (six starts).

While Turnbull has not started a game since late April, the righty threw 49 pitches in his most recent outing on Friday and figures to be able to step into the rotation and offer the Phillies solid production in Walker’s stead. That leaves the long relief role out of the bullpen to Mercado, who is set to replace Walker on the club’s roster. Mercado was the Rays’ second-round pick in the 2017 draft but did not make an appearance at the big league level with the club before being traded to the Phillies back in November. Philadelphia swiftly placed Mercado on their 40-man roster and sent him to Triple-A to open the season, where he’s excelled with a 1.71 ERA and a 22.8% strikeout rate in 47 1/3 innings of work split between the rotation and bullpen at the level.

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