Phillies Injured Starter Begins Rehab At Clearwater

Injured Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Taijuan Walker made his first rehab start on Thursday with Class A Clearwater as he started his build-up toward a return to the Phillies.

Originally, the Phillies were going to send Walker to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to start his rehab. But they started him at Clearwater instead, knowing that he will probably need four starts to get ready to re-join the Phillies.

Walker threw four innings on Thursday, giving up two hits, two earned runs and striking out four. His fastball hit 91 mph on the gun.

The goal was for him to throw at least 60 pitches. He ended up throwing 47, which may be more about how efficient he was during the start.

From there, the Phillies hope to ramp Walker up by 15 pitches in each of his next three starts. Now that he has started his rehab assignment, he has 30 days to be ready for a recall to Philadelphia. The Phillies want him fully built-up before he hits the Majors, with the goal being 100 pitches.

The Phillies put Walker on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement at the start of the season.

Without Walker, the Phillies starting rotation has posted a 2.37 ERA through Thursday’s game with Pittsburgh.

Walker is an 11-year veteran who played his first season with the Phillies last year, as he went 15-6 with a 4.38 ERA in 31 starts. He struck out 138 and walked 71 in 172.2 innings, the last of which was a career-high for the 31-year-old.

Walker has also pitched for Seattle, Arizona and Toronto and has a career record of 69-56 with a 3.97 ERA.