Taijuan Walker finally recovers from finger injury, will return to the Phillies’ rotation and start tonight against the Fish

The Philadelphia Phillies reinstated Taijuan Walker from the injured list. He will make his return to the mound tonight against the Miami Marlins. To make room for Walker on the 26-man roster, RHP Yunior Marte was optioned to Lehigh Valley. 

Taijuan Walker returns to Phillies starting rotation

The Phillies returned RHP Taijuan Walker from his rehab assignment with Reading (AA) and reinstated him from the 15-day IL. To make room for him on the 26-man roster, RHP Yunior Marte was optioned to Lehigh Valley (AAA) following Sunday's game.

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 13, 2024

Walker went down with a “finger injury” back on June 21st and has been trying to get it to heal for nearly two months. The Phillies, who have been playing bad baseball for over a month at this point, are already dealing with a ton of injuries in their rotation.

Ranger Suarez is currently working himself back and threw live batting practice today at Citizens Bank Park. Ideally, he will be back by next week. From there, Spencer Turnbull should return late-August or early-September.

Reinforcements are on the way but given how bad the Phillies have been playing, they need something more than the Marlins and Nations to get back on track before September. Their August schedule toughens up next week and they need to get back-on-track sooner than later.

Can Walker help? Well, probably not. I don’t see his return doing much of anything. Taijuan Walker wasn’t exactly lighting up the box score before he returned from injury for the second time this season.

Phillies fans know damn well that Walker basically handed a spot in the back of the starting rotation because of his contract – taking Spencer Turnbull at the time, out of the rotation. 

Walker is on a 4-year contract with nearly $52 million left to be paid, which to that point, the Phillies and Rob Thomson can tell you anything they want, but money owed clearly has a major factor in him getting a spot in the rotation. 

Well at this point, I guess it’s because of injuries but regardless, in 10 games this season, Walker has posted a 3-3 record to go along with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. 

The ship has sailed on Taijuan Walker in Philadelphia. At this point, this guy is nothing more than a bad fifth starter who can eat innings and give the rest of the rotation rest. 

After starting the 2023 season year very strong, Taijuan Walker was pretty miserable down the stretch. On the year, he posted a 15-6 record with a 4.38 ERA over 31 starts but the majority of his success was found before the All-Star Break. 

The Phillies didn’t even consider Taijuan Walker in the postseason last year. He was unreliable and known for getting off to slow starts and also could not be trusted in a high-leverage situation out of the bullpen. 

2024 Spring Training didn’t help Walker’s case either. In fact, he was pretty miserable – highlighted by a disastrous start against the Baltimore Orioles in which he coughed up five hits, seven runs, three walks and three home runs in just 2.3 innings of work. 

Clearly, something was wrong with Walker. His fastball didn’t move from the 89-92mph range all Spring and back on March 9th, it was as low as 88-90mph.

Soon after – he was heading to the 15-Day IL.

It’s either put Walker in the rotation or let $52 waste away in the dugout.

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