Taijuan Walker

Walker caught on with Los Angeles on a minor league contract last month and never wound up joining the club’s rotation mix. The 33-year-old veteran was cut loosed by the Phillies after recording a ghastly 9.13 ERA across 22 2/3 innings earlier this season. He would make sense as an emergency stopgap solution somewhere, but it’s challenging to envision Walker having any sustained fantasy relevance at this stage of his career.

The 33-year-old hurler exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Angels on Monday, but after exploring the open market he decided that staying with the Angels makes the most sense for him at the moment. He’ll continue to serve as extra rotation depth at Triple-A Salt Lake.

Walker signed a minor league deal with the Angels on May 23rd, but had an out in that deal, so he exercised that and was released. The 33-year-old will look to latch on with another team, likely on another minor league deal.

Walker was released by the Phillies after forging a 9.13 ERA over his 22 1/3 innings to begin the year. The 33-year-old will likely get a chance to join the Angels’ rotation, but considering his inability to miss bats and the fact he’ll be playing for one of the worst teams in the sport, this is a hard sell from a fantasy perspective.

Walker was serviceable for the Phillies last season, posting a 4.08 ERA in 123 2/3 innings, but he had a 9.13 ERA in 22 2/3 innings this year. He has not posted a strikeout rate over 16 percent since 2023, so this move is not entirely surprising. With Zack Wheeler (shoulder) coming off the injured list on Saturday, he will slide into Walker’s spot in the rotation.

Putting an opener in front of Walker didn’t yield the results the Phillies were hoping for as he gave up eight hits, including homers to Michael Busch and Seiya Suzuki. Simply put, he’s not a recommended fantasy option moving forward.

Walker has been awful in his first few outings, and he’s earned every bit of his 9.16 ERA. Who exactly will be the opener hasn’t been announced — and really doesn’t matter from a fantasy perspective — but the hope is that working a bulk role will allow Walker to be more effective. He still has a chance to earn a win, but fantasy managers should probably look elsewhere for that outing.

Yikes. Walker got absolutely eviscerated in this one. The Braves loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning and it felt like Walker never caught his breath. They wound up with six runs home by the end of the second and the rout was on. Walker’s stuff has lost its zip and his command is so-so at best. It doesn’t feel so out of place to see him with a 9.16 ERA a few weeks into the season. His days in the Phillies’ rotation are likely numbered with Zack Wheeler making his way through a rehab stint.

This seemed a very unlikely outcome for Walker after Ketel Marte homered to start the game and Corbin Carroll came around to score after a walk. Walker, though, allowed only two hits and one walk over the remaining four innings and finished with six strikeouts. He’s now 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA. It’s unclear if he’ll get any additional starts in the near future, as the Phillies won’t need him before Thursday’s off day and then could get Zack Wheeler back afterwards.

Walker gave up three homers in the contest, two of them to former Phillies legend Mickey Moniak. There’s no sarcasm font. Walker also scuffled in his start against the Nationals, and what seemed like a soft launch on paper has been a disappointing beginning of the season for the 33-year-old. He’ll try and right the ship against Arizona over the weekend.

Walker gave up 10 hits despite allowing just five hard-hit balls. Even more incredible is that three of those were outs; the Nats were 7-for-11 with a sac fly on their softer contact. Still, this is the kind of thing that’s going to happen from time to time when you can’t miss bats. The poor showing gives Andrew Painter an early edge when it comes to determining who stays in the Philadelphia rotation after Zack Wheeler returns, though we’ll see what Painter can do Tuesday. Walker will face the Rockies in Coors Field on Sunday.

It was a lineup full of bench guys, with Dominic Smith and Ben Gamel being the best hitters the Braves brought. Between this and facing Brazil for Team Mexico last time out, Walker hasn’t really been tested of late. He’ll open up in the Phillies’ rotation, but he’s not at all recommended for fantasy purposes.

Walker struck out three and allowed no hard-hit balls in an easy 64-pitch outing. With Mexico now 2-0 in pool play, Walker has a pretty good chance of getting another WBC start next week.

Walker gave up two hits and a run in a 20-pitch first. In the second, he allowed a single with two outs, only to pick off Seaver King at first afterwards. Walker is almost certainly going to open up in the Phillies’ rotation with Zack Wheeler down. The question is whether he’ll perform well enough to hang on to the fifth spot once Wheeler is back.

Walker allowed two runs in the first, but pitched well from that point on. The 33-year-old piggybacked with Walker Buehler, and unfortunately that meant no win chance for the right-hander. Walker seems likely to piggyback with Buehler again next week; probably against the Marlins on Thursday.

Piggyback fever is sweeping the nation. The Phillies become the latest organization to take the plunge with the Walker/Buehler tandem — seriously, you can’t make this stuff up — enabling the club to set up their rotation by having Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez face the Diamondbacks this weekend, which puts Cristopher Sánchez on track to start Game 1 of the NLDS.

The Phillies were down 4-3 when Walker threw his final pitch, but they took a two-run lead in the bottom of the fifth and held on to it from there. It’s Walker’s fifth win to go along with eight losses. He’s 2-3 with a 4.62 ERA in 12 starts since returning to the Phillies rotation in July. If he starts next weekend, it’ll be against the Diamondbacks. The Phillies, though, could changes things up a bit with off days next Thursday and the following Monday.