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Taijuan Walker

2026
Phillies· RHP · throws R· 22.2 IP· 9.13 ERA· 2.07 WHIP· 115 BF
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Grade

How good he's been, and at what
Fbetter than 3% of pitchers at limiting bases
StarterCommand Artist

Rarely walks anyone and lets the defense work.

Walker is getting hit harder than most pitchers

The simulator expects 0.496 bases allowed per batter faced against him — better than 3rd percentile of qualified pitchers. The soft spot is HR Suppression (1st percentile).

115 batters faced · data through 2026-08-22.

How to read this chart
Each spoke is a skill estimate adjusted for sample size (not raw season stats), so farther out = better. Spokes are the metric itself; ↓ marks a rate where a LOWER number is better. Percentiles vs. 464 qualified pitchers — 100+ batters faced, starters and relievers pooled.

Plays like…

Same archetype, nearest by rate — pick one to see him side by side with Taijuan Walker.

Zac GallenD-backsJameson TaillonBlue JaysMiles MikolasNationalsNick LodoloReds

Pitcher type

What kind of pitcher he is, next to the league

Pitcher type

Where he sits among qualified pitchers on the two skills that separate styles.

How to read this chart
Two skills separate pitching styles: finishing hitters without free passes (strikeout rate minus walk rate) and keeping the contact they do allow soft (hard-hit rate against). Every dot is a qualified pitcher this season; dot size tracks batters faced. Click any dot to open that pitcher's page.
 Taijuan WalkerLeague medianPercentile
Bases per ball in play(lower = better).697.5283rd
Walk rate(lower = better)10%9%41st
Strikeout rate(higher = better)19%22%9th

100th percentile = best in MLB.

Arsenal

What he throws, and what it does

Taijuan Walker mixes his splitter (23%) and sinker (23%). His best pitch has been the slider, saving 2.9 bases per 100 thrown vs average.

Pitch mix & swing-and-miss

−7 bases worse than a replacement arm this season

allowed 71 bases vs a replacement arm's 64 over the same batters faced

Replacement level is per-batter and can't be split by pitch type, so the bars below use league average.

All pitches

13.4 bases cost vs league average, across 382 pitches — 3.5 per 100.

Splitter
23%
86.8 mph · RHP median 86.8
19% whiffs · Lg median 34%
cost 5.3 per 1005.2 total
Sinker
23%
91.8 mph · RHP median 94.7
13% whiffs · Lg median 13%
cost 4.4 per 1004.2 total
Cutter
20%
86.6 mph · RHP median 90.1
17% whiffs · Lg median 22%
cost 5.1 per 1004.3 total
Curveball
13%
74.4 mph · RHP median 81.1
—
cost 2.1 per 1001.2 total
Slider
12%
81.1 mph · RHP median 86.9
—
saved 2.9 per 1001.5 total
Four-Seam Fastball
not charted
10%
91.9 mph · RHP median 95.1
—
—

His four-seam fastball isn't in the charts below — only 42 of them were tracked with velocity and movement data this season.

How to read this chart
What they throw, how hard, and what misses bats — from pitch tracking, regular season only.

Mix by batter side

Sinker
16% vs LHH · RHP median 17%
34% vs RHH · RHP median 34%
Cutter
19% vs LHH · RHP median 19%
21% vs RHH · RHP median 19%
How to read this chart
How the mix shifts against lefty and righty bats. Medians are among right-handed pitchers who throw that pitch at least 3% of the time — between 135 and 191 of them, depending on the pitch. Overall results by batter side are under Platoon splits.

By appearance

How the stuff has held up outing to outing

One point per outing — how his velocity, movement, and pitch mix have moved across the season, with league context for scale. Each pitch keeps the same color in every chart. His four-seam fastball isn't in these charts — only 42 of them were tracked with velocity and movement data this season.

Platoon splits

How he fares against lefties and righties

Platoon splits (EB/PA allowed)

Better vs RHB than vs LHB by 0.041 EB/PA allowed (modeled).

50% probable range: +0.033 to +0.049

vs LHB76 PA0.523

vs LHB: shrunk estimate 0.523 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.501 to 0.545, based on 76 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.674 EB/PA. League median vs LHB: 0.454 EB/PA.

Raw vs LHB rate (0.674) is off this scale — small samples like this are exactly why the shrunk estimate (the dot) is the trustworthy number, not the raw one.

vs RHB40 PA0.482

vs RHB: shrunk estimate 0.482 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.460 to 0.504, based on 40 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.501 EB/PA. League median vs RHB: 0.440 EB/PA.

0.4270.4600.4920.5250.558
← betterworse →
Below league medianAbove50% probable rangeHis raw rateMiddle half of the league

About the typical split for a righty arm (median 0.040). He allows more than the league median against both sides.

How to read this chart
  • Tap or hover any mark for its number, or tab to a row for all of them.
  • His raw rate is the unshrunk number against that side — small samples make it noisy, which is why the model pulls his estimate toward a more trustworthy value.
  • “Middle half of the league” is the 25th–75th percentile of all pitchers against that side.
  • These are bases allowed, so lower is better. Weighted by how often he faces each side, the two splits average back to his modeled overall EB/PA allowed — not the xEB/PA headline at the top of the page, which folds in strikeouts and walks differently.
  • Shrunk splits beat raw splits on held-out seasons, most decisively at low batters-faced counts (relievers especially), and converge with the raw numbers as exposure builds.

Contact allowed

What hitters do when they connect

Batters go up the middle off him most often, but the hardest contact goes to the pull side.

Pull and oppo are relative to each batter's stance, so this pools all the hitters he faced.

Batted balls allowed

Where every ball hit off Taijuan Walker landed this season.
hit · out
EBlowhigh
vs Mickey MoniakHome run
EV 109 mph · LA 28° · EB 3.9
04/05 vs Rockies
vs Ketel MarteHome run
EV 107 mph · LA 26° · EB 3.9
04/11 vs D-backs
vs Dominic SmithHome run
EV 103 mph · LA 29° · EB 3.8
04/17 vs Braves
vs Mickey MoniakHome run
EV 103 mph · LA 32° · EB 3.5
04/05 vs Rockies
vs Seiya SuzukiHome run
EV 104 mph · LA 24° · EB 3.4
04/22 vs Cubs

Luck check

Burned 2 times — balls with a hit probability under 20% that found grass anyway.

vs Mike YastrzemskiSingleCheap hit
EV 98 mph · LA -5° · EB 0.1 · xBA .133
04/17 vs Braves
How to read this chart
Dot color is estimated bases (EB) — what the contact was worth, regardless of what the defense did with it. So a dark hollow ring in the outfield is a crushed ball his defense ran down. Tap or hover a dot or a row to link the two, and use the ▶ links to watch a play on Baseball Savant.

Earned vs. actual

Batters have been credited about 8 more bases than their contact off Taijuan Walker earned — his results have run unlucky so far.

Earned off his contact allowed59
Actually credited to batters67

over 85 balls in play · walks and strikeouts excluded on both sides

How to read this chart
Every ball in play is worth the bases its exit velocity and direction usually earn. Comparing those earned bases with the bases batters were actually credited shows whether his results have been lucky, unlucky, or fair.

ERA 9.13 · WHIP 2.07 · BABIP against 0.364 (Lg median 0.286)

Times through order

What happens the third time they see him

Best games

His biggest outings this year

Best games

His best outings this season by bases saved vs a replacement arm.

Multi-season trends · Taijuan Walker

HR allowed% up, BB% up, Barrel% against up, Hard-hit% against down, GB% against down, FB% against up, Pull% against down vs last season

Actual rates — what happened on the field, season by season.