MLB free agents: spotlighting relief pitcher Taijuan Walker
By Ryan Sanders
Free-agent Taijuan Walker is drawing interest from a number of different teams. He hasn’t pitched much since 2017 but Walker offers some interesting upside.
The Minnesota Twins became the latest team to express interest in Free Agent RHP Taijuan Walker. The Twins join Walker’s former team, the Seattle Mariners, as the second team to be connected to the righty. Walker has only totaled 14 innings over the past two seasons after recovering from Tommy John Surgery and other ailments.
The last time Walker was able to take the mound for a full season he was actually quite good. In 2017 for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Walker pitched 157 1/3 innings with a 3.49 ERA, a 21% strikeout rate, and 2.5 fWAR. Now those numbers don’t make Walker an ace but he was still an above-average pitcher that would fit nicely as a number three or four. The question though is can Walker prove that he is healthy and be an effective pitcher.
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Walker’s StatCast profile adds more reason why teams should be interested. In a limited sample last season, Walker maintained his 93 MPH fastball velocity. Walker has a low spin fastball and breaking ball that can successfully pair with each other. Walker parlayed those low spin pitches into an appealing 49% GB rate in 2017. Another positive is that despite giving up a lot of hard contact, Walker’s expected statistics were at least league average.
Rebuilding teams with holes in their pitching staff should be lining up to roll the dice on Walker. He’ll end up costing nothing more than a roster spot and a few million dollars. If Walker pitches well, he could fetch a prospect return from a contending team in July. In addition to the aforementioned teams, the Orioles, Marlins, and Giants make sense as rebuilding teams with innings available. They might not be willing to commit the roster spot but the Cubs and Brewers make sense as contenders in need of quality rotation innings.
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Taijuan Walker enters 2020 looking to put Tommy John Surgery and the last two years behind him. There is the risk he won’t be healthy but Walker has the upside of a mid-rotation pitcher. Teams pay good money for pitching at the deadline and Walker being successful would return a nice prospect or two. Walker represents a lottery ticket that rebuilding teams should be lining up to buy and hope that they can cash in at the deadline.