Phillies release pitcher Taijuan Walker: 'Maybe a change of scenery will help him'

CHICAGO — The Phillies have released pitcher Taijuan Walker, the team announced Thursday.

Walker, in the final year of his four-year, $72 million deal, struggled to a 9.13 ERA this season. The Phillies tried several adjustments for the right-hander before reaching this decision, including tweaking his pregame routine and using an opener for Walker in Wednesday’s 7-2 loss to the Cubs.

“He has done a lot of things for us that have been positive, and he’s been an established big league pitcher,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “He’s tried everything he possibly can. Just has not been able to be effective for us this past year.”

Walker’s overall tenure with the Phillies didn’t live up to expectations when he signed his deal in December 2022. He posted a 5.12 ERA over 402 2/3 innings for the Phillies in the regular season. He made just one postseason appearance, pitching 2/3 of an inning in Game 3 of the National League Division Series last year.

In 2026, his struggles reached a new level. Walker’s velocity averaged 91.8 mph and he did not miss many bats. His 16.8% whiff rate is in the bottom 8% of MLB pitchers.

“Just all performance-based. … He’s one of the best teammates and best people I’ve ever been around,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “So I hope people understand that this guy always took the ball, never refused it, always answered the questions after the game, took down some innings for us when our bullpen was short. This guy’s a pro, and I’m gonna miss him, to tell you the truth.”

In the Phillies’ eighth consecutive loss on Wednesday, Walker allowed four earned runs in four innings. Zack Wheeler is scheduled to return from the injured list and make his season debut on Saturday. The Phillies discussed moving Walker to the bullpen when Wheeler comes back to the rotation, but decided it would not be a fit.

“Maybe a change of scenery will help him. I don’t really know that, but we tried, of course, to trade his contract at various times, and hasn’t worked,” Dombrowski said.

Despite his struggles, Walker remained in the rotation until now because of the Phillies’ lack of starting pitching depth. Alan Rangel allowed one earned run over three innings on Wednesday, and was optioned back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to return to the IronPigs rotation. Nolan Hoffman was recalled.

Rangel has a 1.66 ERA in four starts in triple A this year, and has struck out 18. Thomson also cited 24-year-old Jean Cabrera and minor league signee Bryse Wilson as other potential depth options. Cabrera has a 9.00 ERA and Wilson has an 8.83 ERA in Triple-A this year.

“The way we looked at it is, we’re in a position where we have Rangel, who pitched very well for us, and we have some other guys in our minor league system,” Dombrowski said. “But rather than put [Walker] in the bullpen, which has really not been a great fit for him overall, we just figured we would take an opportunity to put somebody else in the pen.”

The Phillies owe the 33-year-old Walker $15.3 million for the remainder of this season, minus a prorated portion of the league minimum if another team signs him. They are also still paying current San Diego Padre Nick Castellanos, who had $20 million remaining on his contract when the Phillies released him in February.

“Those are long-term contracts that have been in that situation,” Dombrowski said. “Unfortunately, this past year, it hasn’t worked out, but they did a lot of good things for us, too.”

Batting practice pitcher

Thomson pushed back on the notion Thursday that the Phillies’ struggles against left-handed pitchers — their .178 average against lefties is worst in the majors — is related to their former lack of an in-game left-handed batting practice pitcher.

Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long cited that as a potential reason to The Athletic. Due to Long’s Tommy John surgery last year, he is unable to throw BP. Assistant pitching coach Mark Lowy and bullpen coach Cesár Ramos are able to throw left-handed to hitters pregame, but not during games when their responsibilities are elsewhere.

“It was just in-game, in the cage, being able to get a left-handed hitter, or right-handed hitter ready to face a left-handed pitcher. So we went out and hired one,” Thomson said.

The Phillies hired Logan Mathieu to fulfill those duties last week. But even before then, hitters have been able to use the Trajekt pitching machine at Citizens Bank Park to prepare in-game. The machine can replicate any pitcher’s delivery from the right or left-handed side.

“That’s not why we’re not hitting left-handed pitching,” Thomson said.

Extra bases

Adolis García had a day off on Thursday, with Brandon Marsh sliding to right field and Felix Reyes starting in left against Cubs pitcher Edward Cabrera. … Catcher J.T. Realmuto (back spasms) traveled back to Philadelphia Thursday morning to continue to receive treatment. Garrett Stubbs started behind the plate on Thursday. … Andrew Painter (1-1, 4.42 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday’s series opener against Braves right-hander Grant Holmes (1-1, 3.42 ERA).