The Seattle Mariners have been waiting for 22-year-old Taijuan Walker to join their starting rotation for quite some time now. He was the team's No. 1 prospect after the 2011 and 2013 seasons and the right-hander is currently competing for the No. 5 spot in the Mariners' starting rotation.
And the competition could be over before it really begins.
Thus far in spring training, Walker has made two starts and owns a 0.00 ERA and 0.40 WHIP with six strikeouts and no walks in five innings of work. This shouldn't be too surprising because he's not new to any of this - over the past two seasons he's 3-3 with a 2.89 ERA, 1.208 WHIP and 46 strikeouts in 11 games (eight starts) for Seattle. He tossed three scoreless innings on Monday against the Cleveland Indians.
"He pounded the strike zone, he used his offspeed stuff very wisely, and he fielded his position," Manager Lloyd McClendon told Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. "He did well."
Walker has been working on his slider this offseason, which is a pitch he has been struggling with to find the right feel since adding it to his repertoire. His fastball, changeup and curveball have proven to be effective, as was his cut fastball before he switched it out for the slider. The coaching staff and General Manager Jack Zduriencik have been impressed with Walker's development, which provides promise for him to start the 2015 season in the Mariners' rotation.
"It's mostly maturation, comfort, purpose," Zduriencik wrote in an email to ESPN's Buster Olney. "He is feeling that he belongs. They worked on his finish [in his delivery] and keeping it simple. 92-97 [mph] with four pitches, that's a pretty good arsenal. His athletic ability and talent will take over once he convinces himself that he is a legit major-league pitcher and hopefully he is grasping that reality. It's a pretty good ceiling he has, but he is still is developing, learning and refining. He's become a good student and putting in the work to excel."
However, fellow starter Roenis Elias isn't expected to hand the No. 5 spot over to Walker. The 26-year-old had a good campaign in 2014 after amassing a 10-12 record with a 3.85 ERA, 1.314 WHIP and 143 strikeouts in 29 starts (163 2/3 innings).
Despite Elias' experience at the major league level, Walker has been the team's best pitcher in spring training and Elias has struggled in two games (4 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB) to total a 4.50 ERA and 2.25 WHIP. Sure, it's still early, but it was made known in the offseason that there would be a competition for the final spot during the spring between Elias, Walker and Erasmo Ramirez.
Seattle is going to need all the help they can get to make the postseason, especially after missing out on the action by one game in 2014. If that means putting Walker in the starting rotation, then it's likely that's what McClendon will do.
