WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The shortened spring training has taken at least one victim on the Mets rotation.
Taijuan Walker’s knee pain has resurfaced in the past week, leading up to his disappointing Tuesday start in the Mets’ 14-0 loss to the Nationals. He underwent knee surgery in January, and had been progressing nicely up until the final week of Mets camp.
On Tuesday, Walker allowed six runs, including two home runs, across just 1 1/3 innings against the Nats in his final tune-up of spring training. He threw a perfect first inning, then allowed six hits in the second inning. Somewhat alarmingly, Walker’s fastball sat around 86-88 miles per hour in his third Grapefruit League start.
Walker said he wasn’t able to put any pressure on either of his legs, which led to putting all of the burden on his right arm. Once he was pulled from his start, Walker sat in the Mets dugout extending and flexing his right leg, in noticeable discomfort.
“Felt all right,” Walker said. “Came out, my knee was a little sore. Bugging me a little bit. I was using all arm, so we didn’t want to push it. So we just shut it down.”
Walker stretched out to around 40 pitches in his final spring start, about 15-20 fewer pitches than he stretched out to in his previous outing. He still expects to make his first turn through the rotation, the series opener in Philly on April 11.
The right-hander believes the mechanical work he’s been doing on his lower half the past week led to too much stress on his knee. He looked OK otherwise — pitching 3 2/3 shutout innings against the Nats at Clover Park his last time out — and still hasn’t allowed any walks across seven Grapefruit League innings.
“I think I put too much stress on it and it started aching a little bit throughout the week,” Walker said. “We thought it would go away. Still, nothing concerning. But just precautionary reasons, wanted to come out.”
Walker will now focus on going back to his previous mechanics, where he didn’t turn his lower body as part of his delivery, in hopes that he can better take care of his right knee pain while pitching. It remains important that Walker is healthy and able to pitch his first outing of the season with Jacob deGrom sidelined for at least the first two months of the year and Max Scherzer dealing with hamstring tightness.
In previous springs Walker would have the time and runway to fix his mechanics, but this year his ramp-up and any subsequent adjustments are on a time limit.
The Mets will fly to Washington on Tuesday and begin the season on Thursday against the Nationals. Walker will not have another opportunity to face another team and work through his mechanical adjustments before taking the mound against the Phillies in six days. He was behind the rest of the rotation as it was, due to his January knee operation.
Manager Buck Showalter ensured this spring that all of his starters would open the season pitching on their sixth day of rest, as opposed to the typical five days, so as to account for any potential aches and pains emerging due to the shorter spring training. Pitchers and catchers usually have six weeks in camp before the regular season begins. This year, pitchers and catchers had only four weeks due to the owners’ lockout.
“Everything just ramped up so quick,” Walker said. “I knew I was going to be a little bit behind in spring training, and I felt like I kind of caught up a little bit and then just to have this. I’ll get an extra day I believe, which will be nice. I’ll just work through it.”
