Taijuan Walker Wants Dill Pickle Sunflower Seeds

So, I was chatting with Mariners fans on Twitter last night, discussing the various rumors surrounding the team, Kyle Seager‘s well-deserved contract extension among other topics.

Of course, the main story of the night was the decision by the Grand Jury not to indict the police officer involved in a shooting in Ferguson, Missouri back in August.

But it was a series of tweets by Mariners pitcher Taijuan Walker that caught my eye. First, he expressed concern and offered prayers for those involved in the riots that broke out shortly after the word came down.

Just minutes later, Walker added this series of tweets that really got me to start thinking. (In order of posting):

So, what are we to take away from all of this? That Taijuan Walker really wants Dill Pickle flavored Spitz sunflower seeds. AND….he’s not ready to be the ace of a Major League staff. Not that he has to be yet, after all, Felix Hernandez is the ace of the Mariners staff for the foreseeable future.

With all of the trade talks surrounding him, I’m actually happy to see him laid back and enjoying his time off. However, he turned a touching moment showing sympathy for the people in Missouri into Pokemon, Nintendo 64 and Spitz sunflower seeds in a span of just 10 minutes.

In the digital age where people feel compelled to share all of their thoughts in 140 characters or less, people that are in the public eye have to be even more careful what they say and how they say it.

What is Felix doing on Twitter? He’s sharing pics from his family vacation through Eastern Europe. What is Walker doing? Talking about Pokemon and sunflower seeds.

I get it, he’s a kid still. He’s only 22 years old. Okay, Bryce Harper is also 22 years old. What is he tweeting? Well, other than random shouts to UNLV sports and banter during the Giants/Cowboys game the other day, he tweets stuff like this:

Mike Trout? He’s 23. He mostly retweets various things that people send him. But then when he does tweet something original, it looks a lot like this:

A lot of fans think Walker should be untouchable, meaning that he should not be traded no matter what. But this is another example why I would be okay with him being traded – albeit for a valuable return.

I simply don’t think he will be all that everyone thinks he will be – and I KNOW I am in the minority in that thinking.

I want Tai Walker to succeed and EARN his title of the Fresh Prince of Seattle. I REALLY do. I want to be proven wrong on this one. But I simply don’t see it happening. Maybe I’m just being too hard on a 22-year old kid who is just doing his best to appeal to his fans (which he does often and well).

I mean, a little immaturity isn’t necessarily a bad thing with a baseball player, right? He’s not a franchise quarterback. But I still feel that when you are a top draft pick, you have a certain responsibility to be a mature ambassador for your club.

So that’s one of the reasons why I have been advocating selling high on Walker, while there is interest. Because the worst thing that can happen to Seattle – other than him being traded and becoming a star – is for him to flame out before being traded and getting little to nothing in return.

Maybe I’m wrong. Again, I HOPE I am.