The Phillies move the struggling Taijuan Walker to the bullpen

Taijuan Walker is moving to the bullpen, Phillies manager Rob Thomson announced on Thursday. Walker, 32, has a career-high 6.50 ERA this season. He is coming off one of his worst starts of the season on Wednesday, having allowed six runs on 13 hits with one walk, one home run, and no strikeouts against the Astros.

The idea of moving Walker to the bullpen was raised toward the end of last season. It wasn’t pursued because Walker has a lengthy pregame routine, and it would take a while for him to adjust to a shorter warmup before bullpen outings.

But his performance since he was activated off the injured list on Aug. 13 forced the issue. Walker has allowed 18 earned runs over 17⅔ innings since then. He has posted a career-high 47.2% hard-hit rate this season, which ranks in the bottom 3% in the majors, and his lowest strikeout rate (16.8%) since 2018.

The average velocity on his four-seam fastball has dropped over 1 mph from last year, which has had a big impact on how his pitches have played. Because of that drop in velocity, there isn’t enough separation between Walker’s splitter and his fastball. His splitter averaged 86.5 mph this season, and his fastball was at 91.4 mph.

For the splitter to play properly, Walker would need to tick his fastball velocity into the 93-94-mph range. Without that separation, it’s hard to throw off a hitter’s timing.

When Walker was on the injured list, from June 22 to Aug. 12, he worked on a program to build his velocity back up. But because he was on a shorter timeline, he didn’t see a significant increase in uptick. The Phillies are hoping he sees an uptick in the bullpen because he’ll be pitching in shorter spurts, but it’s unlikely the transition will lead to any big changes.

It will be an offseason project. Walker likely will start throwing earlier this winter, so he has more time to build velocity.

“That program is a long program,” Thomson said. “We sort of cut the program off early. I think if he has a full offseason of that program, we’ve got a better chance at seeing some improvements.”

Walker remains in the mix to rejoin the rotation next year. But for now, he will remain in the bullpen, likely as a long man. Thomson said he’d prefer for Walker to start with a one inning, low-leverage outing and build from there.

“I’m hoping the stuff will tick up, the velocity will tick up,” Thomson said. “He’ll get out there and just power the ball through the zone. We’ll see.”

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Thomson declined to specify who will be filling the fifth spot in the rotation because he had not notified that pitcher yet. That spot would come up on Tuesday in Toronto. He did say that Kolby Allard has pitched the best out of all of the Phillies’ depth options, but Allard was optioned to triple A on Monday and is not eligible to rejoin the Phillies until Sept. 10.

Tyler Phillips is a candidate to fill those two starts in Allard’s absence. Phillips was optioned to triple A on Aug. 17, so he’d able to start on Tuesday, which would have been Walker’s turn.

Pitching coach Caleb Cotham and Thomson lauded Walker for the work he has put in to try to rectify his struggles this season. Unfortunately for Walker, that work hasn’t translated into results.

“I want to let him pitch free,” Cotham said. “Call it a reset, see what that looks like. Let him experience that. Because he’s put in a ton of work. He’s worked an incredible level the last two months. Maybe this reveals some of the work and some of the velocity he’s worked hard to get.”

Cotham added: “He understands the results. He just wants to help the team. He’s a pro. He’s a competitor. And he just wants to win.”

The Phillies signed Walker to a four-year, $72 million deal in December 2022. After this season, they’ll still owe him $36 million. They are going to exhaust every option.

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“He was a complete professional,” Thomson said. “Like I said last night, I feel for him. Because he’s put so much time and effort into this. Long toss, weighted balls, light balls, all kinds of stuff. And he’s not the same guy that he was. Hopefully with work over the offseason and the rest of the season, we get that velocity back and that stuff back.”

Pitching prospect Andrew Painter experienced a setback in his rehab early last week after getting sick, but he is still on track to return to play in 2025. He threw a bullpen session on Thursday. Painter, 21, underwent Tommy John surgery in July.

Spencer Turnbull (right upper back strain) is throwing out to 120 feet this week. There is still no specific timeline for his return. ... Michael Mercado was optioned to triple A on Thursday, and reliever Yunior Marte was recalled. Thomson would like Mercado to work on his command in the minor leagues.