Taijuan Walker, RHP

B/T: R/R

Age: 28

Primary Stats: 11 G, 11 GS, 53 1/3 IP, 2.70 ERA, 1.163 WHIP, 50 K, 2.63 K/BB, 1.4 HR/9

Advanced Stats: 0.6 fWAR, 1.3 bWAR, 4.56 FIP, 161 ERA+, 32.2% Hard Hit Percentage

Rundown

Taijuan Walker signed with the Seattle Mariners on a one-year, $2 million contract in February. In doing so, Walker had a chance to build up his value after missing most of the 2018 and 2019 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery and later dealing with a shoulder capsule strain.

Walker had the opportunity to do so with the team that drafted him out of high school in the first round of the 2010 draft. However, due to MLB’s COVID-shortened season, Walker did not get a lot of time to shine in Seattle. His time with his original team was cut even shorter after they traded him to the Toronto Blue Jays at the end of August.

Walker headed north of the border after five starts (three quality starts) with Seattle in which he went 2-2 with a 4.00 ERA, 1.074 WHIP, and 25 strikeouts in 27 innings.

In Toronto, Walker did not go far in four of the six starts he made, but was solid overall. He stuck out another 25 batters in 26.1 innings while pitching to the tune of a 1.37 ERA and 1.253 WHIP.

Walker’s worst game of the season came on September 15 against the New York Yankees when he only lasted 1.2 innings and gave up seven runs (one earned), six hits, and two home runs. His best start of the season occurred on July 31 when he held the Oakland Athletics to no runs, one hit, and two walks on 94 pitches in seven innings pitched.

Contract

Walker’s previous salary was $5.025 million when the Arizona Diamondbacks tendered him a contract in 2019. He took a step back via free agency in 2020 due to being limited to only four games from 2018-2019.

Although he did not get a full season to prove himself due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he showed enough to net a better contract going into the 2021 campaign. At the same time he will still likely be viewed by teams as a low-risk, high-reward type of pitcher and isn’t projected to be signed for too high of a cost.

MLB Trade Rumors rates Walker as their 23rd-best free agent on the market and predicts that he will get a two-year, $16 million deal.

Recommendation

In an ideal world the Mets sign Trevor Bauer, but with the team being deemed by some as favorites for signing George Springer, it’s no guarantee they allocate their additional resources on Bauer. If they don’t sign Bauer or one of the other top pitching targets, a pitcher like Walker would make sense.

The Mets’ starting pitching was one of their weakest points last season. The team is in slightly better shape with Marcus Stroman‘s return and will get better when Noah Syndergaard returns from Tommy John surgery in the summer, but questions remain especially in the back end of the rotation.

Signing Walker with the hopes that he and David Peterson can hold down the third and fourth spots in the rotation until Syndergaard returns wouldn’t be the worst scenario. Compare that to the state of the Mets’ rotation last season, where if Walker had been on the team, he would have arguably been the second-best starter.

While signing Walker is clearly not as exciting as signing Bauer, having a rotation of Jacob deGrom, Stroman, Walker, Peterson, and Steven Matz/Seth Lugo for the first half of the season is a lot more acceptable if that means the additional resources were put towards another player like Springer, Nolan Arenado, or DJ LeMahieu.