D-Backs longed for Walker; it’s time right-hander fulfills potential
Four years ago, the Diamondbacks tried to acquire a strong, hardthrowing right-handed starter from the Seattle Mariners. Taijuan Walker was a crown jewel then, a Baseball America top 20 prospect three straight seasons starting in 2012. Every team wanted him, and the Diamondbacks thought they had him, only to be foiled when outfielder Justin Upton exercised his limited no-trade clause and refused to go to Seattle.
Walker’s star has dimmed since then. He’s 24 years old, and in parts of four seasons with the Mariners he went 2222 with a 4.18 ERA. Hardly the stuff of a can’t-miss prospect.
Still, manager Torey Lovullo was genuinely surprised back in November when General Manager Mike Hazen told him that Arizona had an opportunity to trade for Walker. Lovullo figured teams just don’t trade young power arms, even if they haven’t pitched up to their potential.
And when the Diamondbacks acquired Walker for second baseman Jean Segura and outfielder Mitch Haniger? “I was pretty excited,” Lovullo said. It’s fair to debate the wisdom of trading a proven everyday player like Segura – who’s just 27 years old – and a useful piece in Haniger for a pitcher with a .500 career record. But talent, especially young pitching talent, is always worth the risk.
Whether that risk pays off, we’ll begin to find out Wednesday when Walker makes his Diamondbacks debut against the San Francisco Giants.
Walker’s spring-training numbers were encouraging – he had a 3.29 ERA with a ridiculous 32-to-2 strikeout-towalk ratio – but as the Diamondbacks proved last year, what happens in March doesn’t always translate into April and beyond.
Instead, hear the words of two of Walker's current and former teammates.
Chris Iannetta caught Walker in Seattle last year. Ask him about Walker and he says, simply, “He can be great.”
Iannetta compared Walker to Ubaldo Jimenez, his teammate in Colorado from 2006 to 2010. Iannetta said it took Jimenez a full season to learn how to master his slider. Once he did, he became an All-Star, going 19-8 with a 2.88 ERA in ’10. Iannetta saw Walker go through the same process last season as he turned his cutter into a slider. Now that he can control the pitch, Iannetta said, “he’s kind of on the same path” as Jimenez.
The Diamondbacks certainly hope so.
Reliever Tom Wilhelmsen is even more bullish on Walker. The two were teammates in Seattle for three full seasons starting in 2013, and Wilhelmsen saw a different pitcher this spring.
“Definitely a maturity level,” Wilhelmsen said. “He’s just full of potential, full of confidence and it shows.”
Wilhelmsen also believes Walker will be motivated by Seattle’s willingness to trade him. That can work two ways, of course. Shelby Miller felt so much pressure to prove he was worth the haul Arizona gave up for him last year that he pitched his way into the minors.
“When you get traded it kind of knocks you off your horse a little bit,” Wilhelmsen said. “You think you might have been the No. 1 prospect with one organization. Well, guess what. Somebody else doesn’t think so. It takes you down a little bit. But I don’t think that affects him at all. If anything, I think it makes him more hungry.”
Wilhelmsen is so high on Walker that he said, “It’s pretty clear the sky is the limit for him. He’s got tremendous stuff. He can be one of the best.”
Baseball people have been saying that for years about Walker, and he’s always disappointed them. But if he has figured it out, Hazen’s first major move as the Diamondbacks GM will look brilliant.
And, finally, four years later, Arizona will get a payoff on the trade it never was able to make.