Josh Walker has learned not to take it personally. Well, to be honest, I haven’t actually asked him, but you figure somebody DFA’d seven times in his career—twice by his current team—has developed some thick skin.
He’s also developed his game in this, his fourth season, and it was good news for us, because the unsung lefty was an essentially costless addition to the team, and turned out to be one of its best relievers, with a 2.08 ERA in 30 1/3 innings, 29 strikeouts, a 1.19 WHIP, and his first big-league
save. Along the way he put up 18 straight scoreless outings, the longest such streak by an Oriole in a decade.
You may have heard this story, or one like it, before. Walker was taken in the late rounds of the draft (in 2017, by the Mets, out of the University of New Haven), then saw his career delayed by injury/bad luck. First, a car accident left him needing elbow nerve-transposition surgery. Then the pandemic wiped out the 2020 season.
When Walker finally reached the majors, he got hit hard: an 8.10 ERA in fourteen games in 2023 and a 5.11 ERA in ten games in 2024. The Mets DFA’d him, then traded him to Pittsburgh. From there, waivers, waivers, waivers, as Walker made stops with the Pirates, the Blue Jays (a 7.20 ERA in three games in 2025), the Phillies, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Baltimore again. The O’s DFA’d him too, to clear room for Shane Baz, and he cleared waivers in January.
Walker entered 2026 with a 6.59 career ERA, little in the way of expectactions, and his season started like this: a May call-up, an option, another call-up, another option, a doubleheader 27th-man cameo, an on-paper move, and then, around August, a quiet turn into the most reliable arm in the Orioles bullpen. This was around the time he posted an 18-inning scoreless streak.
With Keegan Akin out due to injury, Josh Walker became Craig Albernaz’s most trusted lefty out of the ‘pen. And one of its most valuable, his 0.9 WAR ranking behind only Rico Garcia and Tyler Wells among relievers.
So what turned Walker from discarded over most of his career to indispensable this year? It’s not so much changed stuff: his four-seamer averaged 93.0 mph this year, slightly slower than before, and his slider was much the same as ever.
But the pitch mix was indeed different. As a rookie Walker was close to a two-pitch pitcher: 65% four-seamers and 33% sliders. This year, he threw 38% sliders, 27% sinkers, 25% four-seamers, and about 10% changeups. The changeup, in particular, was new: he didn’t throw the pitch at all in 2024 or 2025, and this season it was his best strikeout pitch, with a 44% whiff rate and a .172 xwOBA (the slider was close behind, at a 32% whiff rate and .195 xwOBA). Walker mostly threw the change mostly against righties, who actually hit him much worse than southpaws.
Improved, too, was Walker’s control. While Walker’s strikeout rate of 23% wasn’t much to write home about, he did avoid hard contact, with the lowest barrel, sweet-spot, and xwOBA rates of his career.
He also got ahead in counts. His first-pitch strike rate was 62.1%, up from 50% as a rookie, and his walk rate fell from 12.5% to 9.5%. It appears that, because Walker was able to land his offspeed stuff, hitters could no longer sit on his four-seamer.
So, is the Walker revival smoke and mirrors, or something to rely on next year? Mostly the former, I’m happy to report. His 3.33 FIP says the ERA is somewhat too flattering. But his 2.70 xERA, which accounts for the quality of contact he allowed, backs up his stinginess, and there is barely a gap between his actual and expected wOBA (.265 and .255), speaking to the weak contact he allowed. That said, we don’t have a huge sample size from him (30 innings), and relievers who thrive on weak contact, as opposed to strikeouts, are more prone to year-to-year swings than pure flamethrowers.
Still, this version of Walker seems convincing. A four-pitch lefty who throws strikes, has a real weapon against righties, and limits hard contact definitely has a role to play in the bullpen. And he’s still on a pre-arbitration salary. After seven DFAs, Josh Walker has earned the right to be taken seriously—and perhaps some prime real estate in next year’s bullpen, too.
