Taijuan Walker working on warming up in bullpen: ‘How fast can I get ready?’

PHILADELPHIA — For 13 big-league seasons, Taijuan Walker knew when he’d be on the mound, and he’d have all day to anticipate that first pitch of the game. These days, it’s a little more unpredictable.

A veteran with 217 starts under his belt, Walker has taken on a one-inning relief role for the first time in his career as the starter-heavy Phillies look to address their bullpen depth in the aftermath of José Alvarado’s 80-game suspension. He’s still working on how to best prepare for each outing in this new job.

“The biggest thing is: How fast can I get ready?” Walker said Friday. “So I’m still learning that. Still taking me a little bit to get going.”

Relievers generally have to get ready to pitch in a short period of time, a stark contrast to the elongated warm-up routines that starting pitchers can use. This is uncharted territory for Walker, and he’s trying to figure it out on the fly during this midseason switch. He’s been observing what the other members of the bullpen do to get loose when that phone rings.

“Some of these guys throw the ball five times and they’re on the mound ready, just firing,” Walker said. “It takes me, still, a good 15, 20 throws before I get the catcher down. So I’m still learning that part.”

Walker, 32, has made four appearances since he was moved to the bullpen full-time after spending most of the season so far as a starter, outside of a brief stint as a long reliever. He’s had three scoreless outings but did surrender a go-ahead two-run home run on Tuesday. The right-hander closed out Friday’s blowout victory, as manager Rob Thomson decided to let Walker enter after the Phillies extended their lead to eight runs since he had already warmed up.

If Walker was further into his tenure as a reliever, maybe Thomson would have sat him back down and used him at a later date. But he doesn’t yet seem to be at the stage where he can warm up heavily, not get into a game and then be available again the next day.

Walker is currently taking in his surroundings to help the process evolve. Phillies right-hander Joe Ross made that same transition from starter to reliever last season when he was with the Brewers. Having gone through something similar, he’s noticed Walking picking up on what’s going on out in the bullpen.

“I can definitely tell he’s watching,” Ross said.

While Walker has mostly been using his eyes to study some of the intricacies, he’s also had some questions for Ross and others about the change in routine. Ross still feels that he’s finding his own way as a reliever to some extent, so it’s not as if he’s trying to take Walker under his wing or anything like that. But he’s happy to provide any answers if the former All-Star asks.

“I think he’s done a good job adjusting so far,” Ross said.

Many relievers start to move around and get their arms going in the middle innings, and they will often throw weighted balls to get loose. Although weighted-ball work wasn’t part of his routine as a starter, Walker said he’ll give it a try.

Of course, every relief pitcher has a bit of a different system for warming up, and each guy might change his own routine here and there. That was something left-hander Tanner Banks realized as he moved into the bullpen at Triple-A for the White Sox in 2021.

“It’s ever-changing,” Banks said. “It’s probably 90%, 95% set, and you make little tweaks and tinkers based on the temperature or how quickly you need to get going.”

Finding that initial baseline and then knowing how to adjust it could be a challenge for Walker, who spent more than a decade doing things a certain way.

“I think he’s such a different circumstance because of how long he’s started in this game,” 24-year-old right-hander Orion Kerkering said. “Since I was in middle school, basically, he’s been starting.”

Still, Walker can continue testing out what works for him and see how he can get his arm ready to go in more of a hurry. Coming out of the bullpen has allowed Walker to focus more heavily on three pitches: his fastball, his splitter and his cutter. The stuff has played up, with his four-seamer reaching 94 mph on Friday. The next step will be maintaining those improvements as he pushes himself to get hot like a regular reliever.

At some point, Walker wants to pitch in new scenarios, such as coming in with runners on base. If the Phillies truly believe he can boost the bullpen, it would make sense to let him have some chances in higher-leverage spots like that.

As he’s found with his warm-up routine, there’s not exactly an exact blueprint for how to approach all this. He’ll need to feel out any unfamiliar opportunity and use it as a learning experience.

“I think it’s just trial and error,” Walker said. “Just do it and see how it goes, really. All I can do is just keep putting in different situations.”