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Are We Finally Seeing what Taijuan Walker Can be for Seattle Mariners

By Josh Sippie

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Potential is worth about as much as a pack of bubblegum. And not that high class bubble gum, we are talking double bubble. A guy can have as much potential as you want but until he converts that potential into an actual product, through coaching, practice and development, you have nothing.

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Taijuan Walker has a lot of potential and he has been on the brink of turning it into a product, but the start of the 2015 season hinted that he was still just running off the fumes of his potential. His command was abysmal, as FanGraphs points out. He was walking 9.5% of the batters he faced in the minor leagues. Compare that number to just 3 walks in his last 29 innings.

This year opened up with Taijuan Walker surrendering 9 earned runs to the bottom-feeding Oakland A’s. He followed that up by giving up 5 runs to the LA Dodgers and before too much longer, he was giving up 7 runs to the Houston Astros. Combine that with the fact that he was not missing many bats and his walks were steadily at 3-4 a game and it felt like panic central around the 22-year old right hander.

However, in his last four starts for the Seattle Mariners, Taijuan Walker has been a completely different pitcher. He has struck out 8, 7, 6 and 6 respectively and only walked 3 across that span. While opponents still have a pretty hefty batting average against him, control was the first step, and he is slowly but surely getting his grasp on some much-needed control.

Despite the consistent walk totals, Taijuan Walker is no longer walking 5-6+ guys every so often. He has never exceeded 4 walks this year. While four is still too much, it is a bit of damage control that it is not getting into the excessive numbers. Not only that, but after having an ERA hovering in the 7.00s all year, Walker has widdled it down to a 5.00 and appears set to start delivering some consistency to the team that has had so much faith in him.

Taijuan Walker’s next task is to duel AL Cy Young leader Dallas Keuchel and the division leading Houston Astros, who will quite literally rip the cover off the ball if you give them a chance. That opponent batting average that Taijuan Walker is rocking is a major red flag going into the match up but if he can reign it in and put down the slugging Astros, then Taijuan Walker very well may have turned the corner towards consistency.

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