Taijuan Walker released: How Phillies right-hander went from $72 million contract to getting cut

While Walker's 2024 campaign was compromised by shoulder and finger problems, injuries weren't really the driver in his Philly struggles. Now 33, Walker has been dealing with steady velocity loss since the 2021 season, and that perhaps should've given the Phillies pause. This season, Walker's average fastball velocity was just 91.8 mph, which put him in the 16th percentile among MLB hurlers. At the same time, Walker, over the years, has gotten less and less plate-ward extension off the mound, which means his fastball has played even slower than it already is. Walker also lost his ability to strike out batters over roughly that same span, and his K% cratered since the start of the 2024 season.

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Dayn Perry

He's tried to adjust, as Walker has mixed up his six-pitch repertoire differently over the years, and indeed he's led with a different pitch in each of the last five seasons, including 2026. He's also adjusted his arm slot at various points. The loss of velocity and spin, along with declining movement on his secondaries, however, just didn't allow him to adapt.

The hope for the struggling Phillies is that, in essence, replacing Walker's rotation innings with those of Wheeler, even with the uncertainties of coming off a baffling condition like thoracic outlet syndrome, will constitute a massive upgrade and help them gradually rise out of the massive early hole they've dug for themselves.

However that plays out, Walker's roundly disappointing Philly tenure is at an end, which is probably best for both player and team at this point.