Taijuan Walker cashed in on his two strong seasons in New York, as he landed a four-year, $72 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies this offseason. The team made the deal official with a press conference on Friday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
During that presser, Walker discussed numerous topics including his maturation as a pitcher. The right-hander told reporters he learned a ton from his veteran rotation-mates during his days with the Mets.
“I was able to be in a rotation with [Jacob] deGrom, [Max] Scherzerand [Chris] Bassitt last year, and I learned a lot from those guys,” Walker said.Carlos Carrasco was a big help, he helped me tinker with my splitter a little bit, it was the same grip he had. Just being in a rotation with those guys and picking their brains and just taking in everything.”
When asked particularly about that splitter, Walker went a little more in depth on how big of an impact learning and switching to Carrasco’s grip had on the pitch for him.
“I’ve always thrown it, but it’s been really inconsistent for me. Really this year talking with Carrasco and just trying his grip out. My first start here against the Phillies this year I threw both grips and his grip just felt more comfortable. I was seeing more consistent action with it so I just stuck with it, so thank you Cookie for that,” he said.
Walker relied on his splitter 27.6 percent of the time last season and he recorded a 29 percent whiff-rate, which was his highest mark with the pitch since 2015.
He went on to speak particularly about the “future, first-ballot Hall of Famer” Scherzer and his unique intensity.
“With Max, he’s a future Hall of Famer, first ballot easily. With him, it’s really just how he goes out and attacks. Even in between starts, how he works, his bullpens, how intense he is, every pitch matters with him ,” Walker said.
He added: “When I had a couple of bad outings he would come up to me and just say hey lock it back in just get through this inning and you’ll finish the game off how you want to.”
As far as the prospect of facing his former teammates over the next few seasons now as a member of the division-rival Phillies, Walker said he’s already heard from Francisco Lindor about their future battles and he’s looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s gonna be fun. Francisco texted me and he said he can’t wait for the battles. I know those guys really well. Their my friends off the field but when we step in between the lines their the enemy now.”