How Taijuan Walker Can Bounce Back For Mets In 2022
It is no secret that Taijuan Walker's first season with the Mets was great in the first-half, and abysmal following the All-Star break.
In fact, Walker went 7-3 with a 2.66 ERA across his first 16 starts, earning him the first All-Star nod of his career in July.
However, after appearing in the Midsummer Classic, Walker hit a wall, which led to a disastrous second-half of the season.
Although he finished his 2021 campaign on a high-note Wednesday evening [7.1 innings, two-runs, two hits, five strikeouts, three walks vs. Marlins], Walker posted a horrid 0-8 record and 7.13 ERA in his final 13 outings.
For Walker, it's simple: When he was at his best, he allowed only six home runs during the first-half across 94.2 innings. But in the second-half, the long ball proved to be his biggest Achilles' heel, surrendering 20 homers in just 64.1 innings.
Not to mention, Walker went out and threw 159 innings, his highest-total since 2015. This is because he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018, which knocked him out for two whole seasons until he came back for a shortened 2020 campaign.
Walker is still under contract for next season, and he will likely factor in as a piece in the back of the Mets' rotation.
And when asked how he can turn things around next year, Walker summed it up pretty easily.
"Just be consistent throughout the whole year," said Walker after his final start of the season.
The right-hander's velocity returned to the upper-90's, but he must stop leaving pitches over the plate in order to limit the home run ball, and bounce back in 2022.
Although Walker finished with a 7-11 record and 4.47 ERA, he still feels like this season was a "win" due to what he was able to accomplish.
"Me personally, I thought it was a really good season," said Walker. "I know the numbers don't look good, especially in the second-half but to be where I was the last three years, and to go out there and make 29 starts, 30 games total and I think 160 [159] innings, I would say that's a win.
"I mean, obviously we want to make the playoffs, we want to go deep into the playoffs and win a World Series, but I felt really good about my season," said Walker. "The training staff did a really good job of keeping me healthy and just working with me to make sure I was able to go out there every fifth-day."
While ace Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker were one of the best starting pitching trios in baseball in the first-half, deGrom went down with what proved to be a season-ending elbow injury, and Walker fell off a cliff.
When you look at the underlying reasons for the Mets' second-half collapse, deGrom's injury and Walker's poor performance are two big factors to the team finishing with a losing record, despite hanging onto first place in the NL East for 103 days.
Next season, the Mets will be hoping deGrom can stay healthy and revert back to the best pitcher on the planet, but they now know they can only count on Walker as a back of the rotation starter. And that's just fine.
