Taijuan Walker is ‘great’ with Rob Thomson and out to show the Phillies there’s ‘no reason not to put me in’

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A few hours after the Phillies lost Game 7 of the National League Championship Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Oct. 24, Taijuan Walker sent a tweet.

“Disrespect is at an all time high #nextyear,” he wrote, at about 2 a.m.

Walker, who was in the first year of a $72 million contract, was the only player on the Phillies playoff roster to not make a postseason appearance. He was emotional about it.

The right-handed starter received plenty of responses, and liked a few of them, including some tweets that criticized manager Rob Thomson.

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“The disrespect is from your manager,” read one liked tweet. “He had no faith in you, which was a joke and his game decision cost the Phillies this series. Remember that!”

People noticed. But a few days later, Walker was able to see more of Thomson’s perspective. The two talked over the phone after the tweet was sent, and have been talking all offseason. Walker says “they’re great.”

“Honestly, I was excited,” Walker said Wednesday on the first day of workouts for pitchers and catchers. “You know, it was the playoffs. Everyone wants to pitch in the playoffs. I was ready and then didn’t get my opportunity. But a lot of that is on me, too. I was inconsistent. My velocity wasn’t there. So, I thought I felt good going into the playoffs, but you never know what you’re going to get, and it’s do or die every game. So, I understand. And for me, now, it’s come in more consistent, come in better, and give them no reason not to put me in.

“I see in the moment how dramatic [what happened on Twitter] was. But it was [overhyped]. I’m competitive and want to pitch, like anyone, and the next day I was like, ‘OK, I’m cool, I’m good.’ It was a little overblown. But obviously, it’s Twitter, so everyone sees. Everyone has emotions. Stuff happens.”

Walker has only pitched one postseason inning in his 11-year career. It was in the 2017 NLDS, when he was with Arizona. Despite the fact that he didn’t pitch last October, he enjoyed the experience. He said he’s spent his offseason watching playoff highlights.

“I loved being in the playoffs,” he said. “Obviously, our fan base is insane. I was just watching a video two weeks ago of Bryson Stott’s grand slam and I was like — we need to do that again. It was great.”

Walker understands that if he’s going to pitch in the playoffs, he’s going to have to earn it. He described his 2023 season as “inconsistent.” His finished with a 4.38 ERA in 31 starts with a 9.7% walk rate — his highest rate since 2014 — and an 18.8% strikeout rate — his lowest rate since 2018.

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He struggled in the first inning — averaging a 7.04 ERA in the first — and his velocity was down throughout many of his starts. He finished the season averaging 92.9 mph on his four-seam fastball, after averaging 93.7 on his fastball in 2022.

Walker hasn’t come to any conclusions about why his velocity dipped, but he has some theories.

“I added some weight [this offseason],” he said. “When I was with New York, the last six years, before last year, I was pitching at 255-260 pounds. And last year I lost like 30 pounds. I came in at 235-240. I wanted to try something new. I did that, felt good. This year, I’m at 245 pounds. So we’ll probably try to stay around 245-250 this year and see how that works.

“I’ve been pitching at a heavier weight for a while. And last year was the first year I’d pitched at 235 pounds since I was 22 years old. So, I wanted to get back to where my normal weight was, and see if that was the reason why the velocity was inconsistent. There have been pitchers where it’s happened like that — CC Sabathia and David Wells had the same thing happen to them. I don’t know. We’ll see. Hopefully the velocity comes back now that I’m back to my normal weight.”

It will be about finding the right blend of speed — moving quickly on the mound — and mass. Walker believes his velocity dip was to blame for a lot of his issues last season. He believes if he fixes that, everything else will follow.

“A lot of it was inconsistency, mostly with my velocity,” Walker said. “I had that pretty good stretch for a month and a half where my velocity was up, and when my velocity is up, I think everything plays really well. Everything is harder, everything is sharper. So, for whatever reason, a couple little nagging things here and there, but I think that was the biggest cause of the inconsistency, and the walks.

“If I’m sitting 88-90 mph then I have to be a little more picky on the corner and that leads to walks. [If the velocity is there] I don’t have to be so perfect.”

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His goal this season is to be more consistent with his command, velocity, and everything in between.

“If I’m more consistent, I can pound the zone more, and I think that’s going to lead to less walks,” Walker said.