Taijuan Walker made the start yesterday going 4 innings, striking out 3 and allowing just one hit and one walk. Walker used all of his pitches well and got a great velo difference between his fastball and curve.

As you can see his max velo was 94.7 and his min velo was 69.9. That’s a huge difference and a good reason to spin those curve balls in there occasionally. Walker used his curve 6% of the time, which is about the percentage I expect from him.

His fastball was interesting as he went with the 4 seamer 32% of the time, mainly sitting high in the zone. With Walker using the fastball high in the zone, he can throw his main pitch (the slider) low in the zone. Moving up and down with his pitches worked really well for Walker.

As you can see the yellow pitch (aka the slider) was used mainly down and away. His splitter he uses with the movement going in to the righties. Different pitches, different spots. Interestingly enough, his slider velo was down, but his vertical movement went up.

As mentioned Walker was impressive as he used all of his pitches, spotting it well. It was really good to see from Walker and shows why he limited runs last year.

Photo by: Anthony DiComo