Taijuan Walker made a rehab start in Extended Spring Training last week, and it looks like his next Mets action will take place in St. Louis…but not in one of the Mets’ three games with the Cardinals.
“It looks like he is going to throw four innings in a sim game in St. Louis,” manager Buck Showalter said Sunday, joking that he would let the media pick the time. “We’ll see how he feels after that.”
The plan, it seems, is to then have Walker return to the Mets over the weekend, when they begin a seven-game homestand against Philadelphia and Atlanta at Citi Field, but his actual return is TBD.
The Mets have an off-day Thursday, which allowed them to option LHP David Peterson – who replaced Walker in the game he left early on April 11 and made two starts in his place – to Triple-A after Friday’s outing to bring up a reliever.
Tylor Megill, the nominal No. 1 starter in the rotation right now, started Sunday’s game and would be on regular rest (as would Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, and Cookie Carrasco) the next time through thanks to that off-day, so the Mets can slot Walker in wherever they feel is best.
“We’ll wait and see until we get through Tylor’s outing (Sunday) and go from there,” Showalter said prior to the Mets’ win in Arizona Sunday.
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The Mets do have a doubleheader with Atlanta on May 3 so they’ll need a spot starter there, although Peterson would be on turn to pitch on May 2 assuming a continued five-day rotation in Triple-A, and could shift back a day to make that start.
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