Taijuan Walker: Former Mets Pitcher (2021 -2022)
By 2012, he was the second ranked prospect in the Mariners system & the 20th ranked minor league prospect overall, pitching in that years' Futures Game in Detroit.
He pitched in the 2013 Futures Game at Citi Field as well. That year, Walker was promoted from AA Jackson to AAA Tacoma, where he was 5-3 with 3.61 ERA, getting called up to Seattle in late August.
In 2014 he began the year in the minors, getting back to the big leagues by June, earning a victory in his first game back up. In July he took a pair of losses & was sent back down until September. He pitched as a reliver that month, going 1-1.
In 2015, he had a rough start to the season, having people wonder if he was ready for the big leagues. Walker then 5-1 in June & July, throwing a complete game one hitter on July 31st. The only hit was a HR to Miguel Sano, against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Walker ending up having his best season in Seattle going an overall, 11-8 with a 4.56 ERA, striking out a career high 157 batters in 169 innings of work & 29 starts. He was the number two pitcher to "King Felix" Hernandez.
In 2017 he went 9-9 with a 3.49 ERA. In 2018 he went on the DL & suffered a UCL tear, requiring Tommy John surgery. He was out for the rest of 2018 & appeared in the final game of the 2019 season. He signed back with the Mariners in 2020 & was traded to the Blue Jays for a player to be named later.
Walker went 2-1 with a 1.37 ERA in six games for the Jays in the Covid19 shortened season. After the season he signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
On April 25th, Walker won his first Mets game, he pitched a seven inning, three hit shutout against the Nat's at Citi Field.
On May 6th, he threw another seven innings, this time allowing just one hit & an unearned run, in a win over the Cardinals, in St. Louis. He struck out eight, matching his season high at that point.On May 12th, he beat the Orioles, in a one run, four hitter, lowering his ERA to 2.20. After a three-inning outing in Atlanta, where he gave up no runs, he earned his fourth straight winning decision.
In a 13-2 Mets romp over the Braves at Citi Field, Walker struck out eight once again, allowing no runs in five innings. He now lowered his ERA to 1.84. He was second on the club to Jacob deGrom whose ERA was below one.
On June 3rd, he lost his second Mets decision, it came in San Diego serving up a HR to Fernando Tatis Jr. Walker followed with back-to-back wins, beating the Orioles at Camden Yards, allowing just one run in seven innings. He struck out a new high, nine batters, while lowering his ERA to 2.07.
On June 15th, he struck out a season high, 12 batters, in a 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field, getting his record to 6-2, with an amazing 2.12 ERA.
On June 20th, he had his worst outing to date as a Mer, allowing four runs on ten hits in a 5-2 loss
to the Nat's in D.C. In his next start, he pitched the first game of a double header, allowing just a run & striking out five Phillies in a 2-1 Mets win.On July 3rd, he beat the A.L. New York team in the opening game of the subway series, allowing two runs on two hits, with 5 Ks in 5.2 innings of work.
Quotes- Taijuan Walker: "Once I got to the big leagues, it's always been a goal to be an All Star, to be the best & go out there & compete against the best & be around the best players in the league".
In the first half of the season, Walker was a pleasant surprise, helping a depleted pitching staff that suffered injuries to Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Carlos Carrasco, Joey Lucchesi, David Peterson, Robert Gsellman & Jordan Yamamoto.
After the break Walker, had four of his worst outings, of the year. As he fell off so did the Mets. On July 18th, he gave up five runs in the 1st innings, at Pittsburgh, although the Mets won the game with Walker earning n decision.
On July 24th, he took a loss at Citi Field, serving up six runs to the Toronto Blue Jays. He allowed three HRs, a personal season worst. But he would serve up three HRs again on August 8th in Philadelphia & then again on the September subway series.
The night before his August 8th loss in Philadelphia, the Mets fell out of first place & never recovered. They went 2-31 the rest of the way as it all fell apart & things hit rock bottom.
Overall, in the second half of the season he went 0-8 with a 7.13 ERA. He allowed five earned runs or more five times in the second half & four earned runs or more six times. He ended the year at 7-11 with a 4.47 ERA making 29 starts with 146 Ks & 55 walks in 159 innings of work in 29 starts.
As the Mets season began, they went into first place with a much-improved team. But Jacob deGrom was down for the whole first half, Scherzer would go down for a good six weeks, Tylor Megill who stepped in to go 4-0 went down as well.
shoulder irritation. He was sidelined for almost three weeks returning at the end of the month.
Carlos Carrasco, Chris Bassitt & Walker stepped it up & were fantastic. After his worst start of the year on May 5th where he gave up seven runs (six earned) things got better.
Starting on May 12th, Walker would win his first three starts. That night he shut out the Nationals in D.C. for seven innings allowing just three hits.
On May 22nd, he shut out the Rockies in Colorado for seven innings, while striking out six & allowing just five hits. On May 28th he won a big game in Philadelphia to get to 3-0, as the Mets took a 9.5 game lead over the Phillies.
On June 2nd, he lost a 2-0 heartbreaker in Los Angeles, allowing just two runs in seven innings to the Dodgers, as Tony Gonsolin beat the Mets to get to 6-0. On that same road trip he gave up four runs in San Diego, taking his second loss as the Mets were shut out 7-0 by Yu Darvish for seven innings.
After that Walker won his next four decisions, including three straight games. On June 12th, he struck out a season high ten batters while beating the Angels in Los Angeles, allowing just a run in six innings while walking just one.
In his next start on June 18th at Citi Field against the Marlins, he followed up with nine strike outs & pitched into the 7th inning, giving up a run on only two hits & a walk. Walker lowered his ERA to 2.88 from 4.91 on May 5th.
On Friday June 24th, centerfieldmaz was on hand in South Florida as Walker & the Mets beat the Marlins 5-3. It wasn't his best outing as he gave up three runs in six innings, but the offense supported him beating Sandy Alcantara, highlighted by HRs from Francisco Lindor & Mark Cahana. Lindor added a bases loaded double that scored all three runners in the win.
From June 24th to July 26th, Walker would have eight straight quality starts, going 5-0 with a 2.12 ERA in that stretch.
On June 29th he continued his fine pitching, shutting out a mighty Astros team in Houston for7.1 innings. He only allowed four hits & took no decision, as the Mets were shut out by veteran Justin Verlander in the 2-0 loss.
On July 4th in Cincinnati, Walker earned his 7th win of the year. He gave three runs, including the first HR he allowed since June 7th. Walker struck out nine & gave up four hits. Brandon Nimmo's three run HR led the way, as Francisco Lindor also homered.
On July 10th, the Marlins Sandy Alcantara shut out the Mets for seven innings, then three Marlin relievers finished the job. Walker held his own in a pitcher's duel with Alcantara shutting the Marlins out for seven innings as well. He left the game scoreless, but the Mets lost the game in extra innings 2-0.
On July 16th, he went at it against his former teammate Marcus Stroman in Chicago. Walker blanked the Cubs for three innings, giving him a stretch of 16 scoreless innings dating back to July 4th, the second longest such streak of his career.
He was tied with Chris Bassitt for second most wins on the staff & was second to Max Scherzer in ERA. Although worthy of inclusion for the NL All Star team, he was not chosen for the game.
After the break he beat the AL New York team, in the subway series sweep, led by HRs from Starling Marte & Eduardo Escobar. On July 31st in Miami, he earned his 9th win of the year, giving up three runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings. The Mets scored nine runs for him in that game.
On August 5th, he made a start in one the biggest games of the year as the Mets took on the second place Braves holding a 4.5 game lead over Atlanta.
In the 1st inning he caught his spike on the mound, lost his balance & never regained form. He ended up giving up eight runs, two HRs on seven hits in one inning of work in the Mets 9-6 loss.
On August 10th he returned to beat the Reds at Citi Field, allowing two runs on six hits with five strike outs. He got to his 10th win of the year (10-2) with a 3.43 ERA.
Quotes- Manager Buck Schowalter: "He's had a competitive gleam in his eye since the day he walked into St. Lucie. Tai really wants to be a contributor to a really good club".
On August 16th he left the game after two innings with back spasms. He returned seven days later & pitched five innings of the subway series allowing a HR to Aaron Judge in the loss.
After a loss to the Pirates in Pittsburgh, Walker had a strong outing in South Florida, allowing just a run in seven innings of work, while striking out five. On September 16th he earned what was his final Mets victory, beating the Pirates at Citi Field to get to 12-5.
Walker missed a week of action then returned for a no decision in South Florida as the Mets remained a game ahead of the Braves.
His final start came in the next to last game of the season with the Mets now one game out of first place after a bad series in Atlanta. Walker pitched 4.1 innings shutting out the Nationals & struck out ten, as he Steven Nogosek & Tylor Megill combined for an 8-0 shut out.
On the season Walker reached a career best 12 wins going 12-5 with a 3.49 ERA. He struck out 132 batters walking 45 in 157 innings of work in 29 starts. He led all NL pitchers with five pick offs on the season.
2022 Post Season: Walker was left off the post season roster after throwing 81 pitches in his final start. He then replaced Joley Rodriuez when he was sidelined with shoulder issues. Walker did not pitch in the NLWC Series loss to the Padres.
All Star: Walker was selected to the NL All Star team but declined as he had planned to spend time with his family during the break. Thru the first half of the season, he was 10-3 with a 4.03 ERA.
He then went 4-3 the rest of the way with a 5.05 ERA, as opponents batted .256 against him, hitting eight HRs.
2023 Post Season: He was not used in any of the post season series'- NLWCS, NLDS or NLCS loss to Arizona. Walker was upset & said so in social media, leaving the fans wondering.
In 2024 he struggled, starting the season 3-3 in ten appearances. Things were not going that well in Philly as he was being looked at as unreliable with the fans. In late June he then went down with a thumb injury keeping him out as of mid-August.
In his 12-year career, he is 72-59 with a 4.04 ERA. He struck out 987 batters walked 376 in 1123.2 innings pitched in 208 appearances (204 starts).
Family: Taijuan & his wife Heater were married in December of 2016. They have two children. Heather Restrepo was a top basketball player at Washington State High School.
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