Everyone’s favorite pitching target for negativity had another “typical” season in the eyes of the fanbase. Each of his outings was viewed through fingers and hands placed in front of eyes, or they weren’t
viewed at all. Many people might choose to go out on a date night the times when Walker was scheduled to toe the rubber. However, if you’re looking for negativity regarding Walker’s season, keep looking my friend because this is going to be mostly positive!
2025 stats:
34 G (21 GS), 123 2/3 IP, 16.0 K%, 7.8 BB%, 1.53 HR/9, 4.08 ERA (5.07 FIP), 0.5 fWAR
What went right:
To begin the season, Walker was put into the starting rotation as the fifth starter, seen as a placeholder until Andrew Painter was ready. For the first five starts, he had a 2.78 ERA and looked perfectly fine.
Then he went to the bullpen…..only to return when Aaron Nola was injured and needed to go on the injured list.
Then Ranger Suarez came back to the rotation and pushed Walker to the bullpen….where he stayed until he had to go back into the rotation because of a need the team had.
All the while, he was just….fine. Through nine appearances as a reliever, mostly in June, Walker had a 4.09 ERA in 11 innings, benefiting from not being in the most leveraged of situations (0.43 aLI in those appearances) and a perfectly sublime BABIP (.133) that helped things as well.
And Walker never complained. He did whatever job the team needed and performed perfectly average for that specific job….
What went wrong:
….which is kind of what the fanbase wasn’t too fond of him.
Walker was paid a large sum of money for his services, which probably raised expectations of what he would bring to the table to a place they really shouldn’t have been.
Yet high is where those expectations were and he simply never reached them.
At least he was perfectly average in 2025.
The future with the Phillies:
For many, this season will represent a success for Walker simply because he will no longer be with the team. As his four-year contract will be completed once the team is finished with the season, having Walker move on to somewhere different is a win in and of itself.
And that can be understood. If we’re talking about whether or not the contract was a success or failure, if your own personal needle moves towards it being a contract that went sideways, I can understand that.
Yet the baseball season is 162 games long. Teams are finding themselves more and more often in dire straights looking for competent starting pitching. Walker represents that for the Phillies and will do that job yet again this coming season. His ability to take the ball and give them five or six innings each start will be counted on. Zack Wheeler will probably not be ready to start the season and Painter has seen his stock dip a decent amount to the point where maybe he shouldn’t even be simply handed a spot out of spring training. Having someone like Walker able to do whatever job is asked of him has some value, value that the Phillies really could use.
