Former Blue Jays starter Taijuan Walker bumped to bullpen duty

Former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Taijuan Walker might’ve seen the last of his days as an MLB starter.

As per NBC’s Corey Seidman, Walker is moving to the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen, which would be just the second time in almost a decade that he’d be entering a game in relief.

Taijuan Walker moves to the bullpen. Phillies can’t call Kolby Allard back up until September 10. Someone else will likely make 2 starts in the No. 5 spot until that point. Maybe Tyler Phillips.

— Corey Seidman (@CSeidmanNBCS) August 29, 2024

In August 2021, Walker pitched 4.2 innings in relief in a game that was originally suspended in April. And while he took over the mound in the first inning from another former Blue Jay in Marcus Stroman, it still counted as a relief appearance.

Before that, he last came out of the bullpen as a 21-year-old with the Seattle Mariners, doing so in a 4-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics on September 14, 2014. Walker has made 208 starts across his MLB career, in comparison to making just four relief appearances.

Walker has struggled mightily this season in Philadelphia, his second year with the franchise after spending the 2021 and 2022 seasons with the New York Mets. He has not won a game since May 11, winning his first three starts but going winless in his last 11.

On the whole, Walker has a record of 3-6 with an ERA of 6.50 and 53 strikeouts in 14 appearances this season.

“You can always make a change, but I’m confident that he’s going to bounce back,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said yesterday, as per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “Maybe not everybody is, but I am. But that’s who I am.”

The 32-year-old is in the second year of a $72 million contract that is signed through 2026.

Walker had a 2-1 record with an ERA of 1.37 and 25 strikeouts in six appearances for the Blue Jays in the 2020 season, all of which were starts. Originally acquired from the Seattle Mariners in a trade in late August in the COVID-19-shortened season, Walker cracked Toronto’s playoff rotation but did not feature in a first-round sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays.