Mariners News: Taijuan Walker Looked Good in Rehab Start

The Mariners’  ‘Fresh Prince’ began his rehab assignment with the Rainiers on Monday night at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.

Taijuan Walker was on the hill last night, and appears to be on the yellow brick road back to Seattle. The Mariners’ young hurler has been sidelined with right foot tendentious since July 6, but he made his first rehab start for the Tacoma Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League on Monday night.

The Yucaipa, CA native was far from perfect, but held his own against the Albuquerque Isotopes last night. Walker allowed 2 runs on 3 hits across 4.1 innings pitched en route to a no-decison. He struck out 1 and walked 2.

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Walker told Andy Buhler of The Olympian after the game that “I felt like anyone who was watching could tell the difference. Getting after every pitch. I thought my (velocity) was pretty good, My stuff was pretty sharp, but just kind of got behind getting back into facing hitters and stuff.”

This was a successful outing for Walker and the Mariners. The main goal was to shake the rust off and exit the game without re-aggravating his injury. Walker also told Buhler that “I think I got off the mound a couple times, kind of broke toward first and everything felt fine doing that”. This is obviously a positive sign.

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The 23-year-old right-hander was arguably the Mariners best pitcher prior to injuring his right foot last month. Walker is 4-7 with a 3.66 ERA across 16 starts this season for Seattle. He has struck out 80 and issued 18 walks through 86 innings. Walker’s 4.44 strikeout to walk ratio was the 7th best mark in baseball at the time of the injury.

Walker has had a pair of 11 strikeout games in 2016. The first came during a win against the Houston Astros at Safeco Field on April 25. Walker allowed just 1 run on 6 hits through 7 innings as the M’s bested the Astros. His next 11 punch-out performance came on June 8 in a win against the Cleveland Indians in Seattle. Walker scattered 3 hits across 8 shutout frames on that night.

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It remains unclear how many rehab outings the Mariners will give Walker, but it shouldn’t be long before he is back on the bump at the corner of Edgar & Dave. I expect him to pitch 85-95 pithes and work roughly 6 innings in his next start with the Rainiers. If that too is successful, look for Prince Tai to return to the Emerald City shortly thereafter.