Taijuan Walker was once again thrust into a starting role on Tuesday night as the rotation spot recently vacated by Mick Abel came up. As we know, Abel was recently demoted to Triple-A for a reset after struggling in his last two starts. So, Walker bounced back into the rotation and delivered a respectable showing, going four innings and allowing one run on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Walker has made nine starts for the Phillies this year and has been more than serviceable, as he owns a 3.48 ERA as a starter across 41.1 IP. He’s only allowed three home runs as a starter and opponents are hitting .247 off of him with a .700 OPS. Walker has not really gone deep into games as a starter though. He’s averaged only 4.5 innings per start, but part of that has been the result of the numerous times he’s moved back and forth from the bullpen.
Before this recent foray back into starting, the Phillies and Rob Thomson made it clear that the plan was to move Walker to the bullpen permanently, but circumstances have changed that idea. Abel’s struggles have compounded with the extended absence of Aaron Nola to leave the Phillies in need of a fifth starter. Andrew Painter doesn’t look quite ready to fill that spot yet either, as he owns a 4.97 ERA in 11 starts for Lehigh Valley as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery.
Ideally, Abel is able to come back right after the All-Star break and deliver some quality performances like he did in his first few starts to either bridge the gap to Nola’s return or Painter’s debut. But maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let him get a few starts at Triple-A under his belt in the hopes he can regain his early season form before bringing him back to the Majors. In that case, Walker would make the most sense to step back into the rotation once again. The spot doesn’t come up again until after the break, so there’s some leeway with how the Phillies want to play it. But again, they have stated that they would rather give Walker a set role and stop bouncing him around.
So, should Taijuan Walker make another start? Or should the Phillies just go back to Mick Abel immediately after the break? Has Walker earned at least one more start? Or has his past track record erased the benefit of a doubt?