Taijuan Walker Gets Candid About His New Role on This Phillies Pitching Staff

The Philadelphia Phillies now have the rotation they envisioned coming into the season.

Their aggressive move to acquire Jesus Luzardo to be the fifth starting pitcher has worked out in spades, with the star left-hander pitching at the top of his game for the Phillies so far this year. But with Ranger Suarez placed on the injured list before the campaign got underway, that prevented them from having the top five starters on this roster available.

As a result, Taijuan Walker was placed back into the rotation.

Coming off the worst season of his career, the expectations were low for the veteran right-hander about what he could accomplish as a reliever, let alone as a starter again.

However, Walker has performed well, posting a 2.54 ERA and ERA+ that's 65 points above the league average across his six starts, looking much sharper with his stuff compared to 2024.

But now that Suarez is back, Walker is being moved to the bullpen.

That is going to take some getting used to since Walker has rarely been used as a reliever during his 13-year career, with 215 out of his 223 outings being starts.

He opened up about his thoughts on the matter.

What Did Walker Say About His New Relief Role?

"I don't think there's any really way to approach it, because I don't really control when I pitch," he said, per Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer. "The only thing I do is be ready to pitch whenever."

It's hard to predict what to expect from Walker coming out of the bullpen.

Both he and Philadelphia worked hard on getting his velocity back during this past offseason, and that has paid off through the early portion of the campaign. Because of that, conventional thinking would suggest he can throw even harder when coming on in relief, not worrying about getting length from his outings.

Still, this is uncharted territory for the veteran, and he knows he has to adjust.

"It's definitely going to change. When you know when you're pitching, you can build out a routine for four or five days so it makes it easier. But I guess now it's just kind of figure out my stretching routine and just really lock in and get ready, and stuff like that," Walker added.

When he's going to be deployed and how he's going to look will determine a lot for the Phillies.

Right now, bullpen is a clear need at the deadline, and while that likely is still going to be the top priority of the front office, if Walker looks good in his new role, then they won't need to find a long man, something that has been lacking the last two years.

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