Why Taijuan Walker Switched It Up Ahead of Spring With Phillies and Team Mexico

Phillies right-hander Taijuan Walker stretched out to 49 pitches over 2⅓ innings Tuesday in his second start of the spring, this one coming with Team Mexico against the Diamondbacks out in Arizona.

Walker is the most accomplished starting pitcher on Mexico's World Baseball Classic roster and pitched four scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against Great Britain. He may be lined up to face Team USA on Sunday, which would mean matchups against Phillies teammates Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.

With Walker pitching Tuesday, his next start would be either Saturday vs. Brazil or Sunday vs. the United States. The U.S. plans to start Paul Skenes against Mexico.

Walker will begin the season in the Phillies' starting rotation after an underratedly solid 2025. Constantly shifting back and forth from rotation to bullpen as needs emerged or disappeared, he did his job both places with a 3.13 ERA out of the bullpen and 4.25 ERA in 21 starts.

In rhythm early

Walker was sharp in his 2026 Grapefruit League debut last Thursday against the Nationals in Clearwater, throwing 29 pitches — none of them splitters or cutters — over two scoreless innings. Walker's focus that day was on his slider and curveball, and he intentionally stayed away from his bread-and-butter splitter because working on his breaking balls was the priority over results.

"It felt really good," Walker said of the slider after that first outing. "Been trying to work on it, it felt really good today, the shapes were really good. Swings and misses and weak contact with it."

His pick-off move looked good, as well. Walker has maybe the quickest feet of any right-hander on his move to first base and nabbed another last Thursday. It will be interesting to see if he's tested at all, in that regard, in the WBC. Walker is second among all active right-handers with 31 career pick-offs. Justin Verlander is the only other with more than 22.

A different offseason

Walker's winter was different in a few ways. He wasn't coming off the bitter disappointment of a career-worst season like the year before. He had just finished the first year of his career bouncing back and forth from starting to relieving.

He was fresher.

"I felt like I was getting stronger, my velo was creeping back up more consistently to 93, 94 toward the end of the year," Walker said. "I'm used to throwing 150-plus innings before 2024."

He's also now a year older at 33, turning 34 on Aug. 13. Maintaining athleticism was a focus.

"I stayed away from strength training, I did more pilates, mobility work and more explosive work, jumps and trying to be fast-twitch," he said.

"Getting older, body's getting tighter and you lose that whippiness and mobility, so I just wanted to make sure my hips were good. Something new I wanted to try and so far, my body's feeling really good."

Walker's role

Walker will open the final season of his four-year, $72 million contract in the No. 4 or 5 spot in the Phillies' rotation. It's TBD whether he's fourth in the rotation and Andrew Painter is fifth, or vice versa.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Zack Wheeler returns if the Phils' rotation is fully healthy. Wheeler has thrown two bullpen sessions and is expected to throw a third mid-week. He could be back as early as mid-to-late April. While it could make sense to be overly cautious with Wheeler, he said last week that, "If I'm ready to go, I'm ready to go."

The Phillies' options at that point would be going to a six-man rotation, optioning Painter to Triple A to continue starting every fifth day, or moving Walker to the bullpen. A six-man wouldn't seem ideal in April because the Phils have five days off before playing their 30th game.