Meet The New Guys: Taijuan Walker

The Blue Jays recently announced the acquisition of their second Mariner this week, SP Taijuan Walker in exchange for a minor league player to be named later. Walker (age 28) is a former first round pick of the Seattle Mariners, who would eventually wind up being his debut team. As a Blue Jay now, Walker looks to join the hobbled rotation with Pearson, Shoemaker, and Thornton all on the IL.

Walker debuted in 2013, and would spend 4 years as a Mariner before becoming a key piece of a trade for SS Jean Segura. He would join the Arizona Diamondbacks for the next 3 years, although he struggled to stay on the field through many injuries, including Tommy John surgery. Between 2018 and 2019, Walker would combine for 14 innings total.

Coming off a huge injury, the Diamondbacks would non-tender Walker despite not giving the former top prospect much of an opportunity. He would later return to the Mariners on a 1 year “prove it” contract. Up until the trade, 2020 has been a sturdy year, but nothing special for Walker. Over 5 starts (27 innings) he put up an ERA of exactly 4.00 and a WHIP of 1.074 with a 2-2 record. He was one of the better starters for the Mariners, and as a result was highly expected to find himself on a new team after the deadline.

Headed into the deadline the Blue Jays made it obvious they were looking for pitching. Not only was the rotation injury riddled, but they struggled to make it deep into games, causing overuse of the bullpen. In a trade for a starter the Jays were looking for a young option to fit the team in the present, and possibly long term, as well as a fair-high stamina starter who could be reliable on any night. Although Walker is a free agent at the end of the year, he checks off almost every other box.

In 2020, Walker has managed to average over 6.0 innings per outing. If he finds himself able to keep that up, the front office will get exactly what they are looking for out of this deal. Walker has proven himself to be a fairly reliable player who keeps his ERA around the 4.00 mark with a 3.95 career ERA over 555.1 innings (103 games, 99 starts). Although the team likely isn’t done trading for starting pitching, Walker was a big first step, and for what seems like a cheap price too.