Taijuan Walker continues to be cancer, Phillies look completely checked out in 9-0 loss to the Braves

I’m going to drive myself crazy saying this but I do have to remind everyone that baseball doesn’t officially begin until June 1st. The Phillies suck right now. That’s not a hot take and it’s not an overreaction. It’s the reality of watching this team sleepwalk through April like the first two months of the season don’t matter.

The offense has returned to being the same inconsistent and highly frustrating bunch we know all too well and the starting pitching behind the top three guys has been a war crime.

You can’t win a pennant before June 1st but god damnit you can lose one.

Luckily the NL East is a dumpster fire right now and the Phillies haven’t played themselves out of anything just yet but this team doesn’t give a shit and it’s evident in what we’ve seen on the field every single night.

Friday night in South Philly was yet another embarrassment and Taijuan Walker was the reason. Again.

The Phillies Infield Told You Everything You Needed to Know

If you want to understand what a poor, uncompetitive starting pitching performance does to a team’s morale, go find tape of the third inning Friday night. Dominic Smith of the Atlanta Braves clubbed a solo home run to make it 7-0.

As Smith rounded the bases, Edmundo Sosa, Trea Turner, and Alec Bohm all removed their gloves, held them in their throwing hands, lowered their heads, and stared at the dirt in front of them.

This is your Phillies baseball team right here. Nice job everyone.

Dominic Smith adds on for the @Braves with his 4th homer of the season! pic.twitter.com/ziITKuZzHV

— MLB (@MLB) April 17, 2026

Three infielders standing on a major league diamond in front of 43,048 fans at Citizens Bank Park and they’ve already mentally checked out of the game. In the third inning. Because the guy on the mound has made it clear that nothing he throws is going to get anybody out.

The sellout crowd provided the soundtrack with a cascade of boos directed squarely at Walker and honestly, the offense deserved some of those boos too, but Walker earned every single one of them.

The Game Was Over Before It Started

The Braves’ first three hitters of the game all reached base against Walker on two walks and a single. Two of them eventually scored on a ground out by Ozzie Albies and an infield hit by Mike Yastrzemski that literally knocked Walker’s glove off his hand.

That’s how the night started. Getting your glove knocked off in the first inning.

The Phillies actually had a chance to answer in the bottom of the first. They loaded the bases with one out against lefty Martin Perez on a hit batsman, a base hit, and a walk. They came away with absolutely nothing.

Sosa flailed at a pitch out of the zone and J.T. Realmuto flied out to left. Bases loaded, one out, zero runs. That right there is the 2026 Phillies offense in one sentence.

The Braves scored four more in the second, three of them on an Austin Riley bomb. The Phillies got nothing in the bottom of the inning because Ronald Acuna made a brilliant catch on a potential gapper off the bat of Trea Turner. Because of course he did.

After Smith’s homer made it 7-0 in the third, the Phillies got a triple from Bryce Harper and a walk from Adolis Garcia to put runners on the corners with nobody out. The threat ended with a Sosa pop up and a Realmuto fly ball.

Runners on the corners. Zero outs. Zero runs. I’m going to lose my mind.

Austin Riley blasts a three-run shot and the Braves are teeing off on Taijuan Walker pic.twitter.com/Bgtyhjo08e

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 17, 2026

For the night the Phillies had six hits. They were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Atlanta had 12 hits and four of them were home runs. Final score 9-0. Three of the Phillies’ last seven losses have been shutouts. They’ve lost three in a row and seven of their last nine to fall to 8-11. Atlanta is 13-7 and sitting 4 1/2 games up in the NL East.

Taijuan Walker Is the Worst Starting Pitcher in Baseball

I don’t care how you slice it. I don’t care what advanced metrics you want to pull up. I don’t care about spin rates or pitch tunneling or whatever nonsense someone is going to throw at me in the comments. Taijuan Walker is the worst starting pitcher in Major League Baseball and it is not particularly close.

Seven hits. Seven runs. Four innings. Three walks. Two home runs. That was Friday. And that was one of his better starts this year, which should tell you everything.

In four starts this season Walker has allowed 20 runs in 18 2/3 innings. His ERA is 9.16. The Phillies have lost three of those four games. Of the 20 runs he’s allowed, 11 have come in the first inning. The first inning. The Phillies even tried tweaking his warmup routine before Friday’s start, having him throw more pitches at a higher intensity in the bullpen. It didn’t work. Nothing works with this guy. Nothing has worked with this guy since he signed the contract.

Walker is in the fourth and final year of a $72 million deal that has been one of the worst contracts in Phillies history. He is 24-24 with a 5.16 ERA in his time with the club. Seventy-two million dollars for a pitcher who is below .500 with an ERA over five and makes your infield stare at the dirt while the other team circles the bases. Unbelievable.

Get Zack Wheeler Back Now

Wheeler is scheduled to make his final minor league rehab start on Sunday and could be back in the rotation by next weekend in Atlanta. His return will push Walker out of the starting five. But the real question is whether the Phillies can afford to let Walker make one more start before that happens. His next turn is scheduled for Wednesday in Wrigley Field. I’m telling you right now, don’t do it. Find literally anyone else. Call up a guy from Lehigh Valley. Use an opener. Let Orion Kerkering throw 80 pitches. I don’t care. Anything is better than running Taijuan Walker out there one more time and watching this team’s body language collapse before the third inning.

The frustrating part is that Walker probably isn’t going anywhere even after Wheeler comes back. He’ll slide to the bullpen because the Phillies don’t have the starting pitching depth to outright cut him. And that’s a front office problem that Dave Dombrowski is going to have to answer for eventually. But for now, the most important thing is getting this guy out of the rotation before he does any more damage to a team that already looks like it’s given up on April.

The Phillies are 8-11. The NL East is still there for the taking because nobody else is playing great baseball either. But this team needs to wake up and it needs to happen fast. Because right now they’re playing like a group that expects to flip a switch in June and I’ve seen that movie before. It doesn’t always end the way you think it will.

Get Walker off the mound. Get Wheeler back. And for the love of God, start hitting with runners in scoring position. Zero for four with 11 men left on base is inexcusable for a lineup this talented.

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