Angels Sign Taijuan Walker To Minor League Deal

The Angels have signed right-hander Taijuan Walker to a minor league deal, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Walker was released by the Phillies earlier this season. He is a client of CAA Sports.

Walker, 33, certainly made an impact in Philadelphia this year, and not in a good way. In five appearances (four starts), Walker allowed a staggering 23 earned runs and eight home runs in just 22 2/3 innings. Almost nothing was going right for him, with Walker’s strikeout rate, walk rate, and WHIP all trending in the wrong direction from last year. The Phillies, needing a rotation spot for the returning Zack Wheeler, decided to release Walker on April 23rd.

There is no financial risk in the Angels taking a flier on Walker. At the time of his release, Walker was earning $18MM in the final season of a four-year, $72MM pact with the Phillies. The Angels will only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent in the Majors, which will be subtracted from the Phillies’ tab. Regardless of Walker’s underwhelming recent track record, at least he won’t cost the Angels a lot of money.

Of course, his being cheap doesn’t inspire confidence in Walker’s ability to help the Angels. The righty had a 7.10 ERA in 83 2/3 innings in 2024 and allowed two and a half home runs per nine innings. Walker split 2025 between the rotation and bullpen, with mediocre results in both roles. His 4.25 ERA as a starter came despite a below average 14.7% strikeout rate. Meanwhile, Walker’s 3.15 ERA as a reliever disguised an ugly 11.8% walk rate, and his 5.14 FIP put his true talent two runs higher than his ERA. Even if Walker improves on his small sample from earlier this year, he’s at best a No. 5 starter now.

On the other hand, the Angels aren’t a bad place for Walker to try to rebuild his value. The club’s rotation is perhaps better than their 4.60 ERA would suggest, but that’s largely due to Jose Soriano‘s breakout and Reid Detmers having a career-best 3.23 expected ERA (well below his actual 5.07 ERA). Walbert Ureña has a 2.70 ERA, but he’s only 22 years old and walks too many hitters. Jack Kochanowicz‘s so-so 4.55 ERA is benefitting from opponents’ .249 average on balls in play, and Grayson Rodriguez has only made two starts since returning from shoulder inflammation.

Walker could conceivably get some starts if one of Ureña, Kochanowicz, or Rodriguez struggles enough or suffers an injury. The signing also harkens back to the Angels’ offseason strategy, which saw low-cost signings of Alek Manoah among others, plus the buy-low trade for Rodriguez. The Angels are currently at 18-34 and have a less than 1% chance of making the playoffs according to FanGraphs, despite manager Kurt Suzuki believing they’re merely in a cold stretch. The club could bring Walker up if the need arises and put him on outright waivers if he does poorly, as was the case with Manoah.