Taijuan Walker is ‘a week or two behind’ rest of the Mets rotation after knee surgery

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Mets are still hopeful Taijuan Walker will break camp with them before opening day, but it’s no guarantee.

Walker underwent knee surgery in mid-January, which took place in Arizona immediately after a piece of cartilage broke off his knee cap following a routine workout. Walker said the procedure has set him back “a week or two behind” the rest of the Mets rotation.

Since the injury happened during the lockout, Walker was not allowed to contact the Mets about potential next steps. He turned to his agents at Excel Sports Management for surgeon recommendations. Walker was able to take care of his knee right away, instead of waiting until after the lockout was over this month to address the injury.

Now, the question is whether Walker will be fully stretched out by opening day. The right-hander is currently in a running and throwing progression, and under careful supervision from Mets coaches and trainers. Walker threw a 40-pitch bullpen on Tuesday and said he feels like he’s back on track now. Even so, both Walker and his manager, Buck Showalter, did not put a timetable on his potential readiness for the first week of the regular season.

“There’s really no reason to rush it now early in the year, especially with such a short spring training,” Walker said. “We just want to be smart with it.”

Walker’s slower ramp-up makes the Mets’ recent trade for starter Chris Bassitt that much more significant. With the questionable longevity of starters Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, given their age and recent injury history, the unknown productiveness from Carlos Carrasco following an unfortunate 2021 season, and now the potential delay to Walker’s season, the Mets deeply needed a top-3 starter.

Bassitt will certainly help the Mets fill a rotation gap, and now it’s possible either Tylor Megill, David Peterson or Jordan Yamamoto will break camp, too.

“I’m hopeful,” Showalter said when asked if Walker will be ready by opening day. “But not going to put ‘questionable’ by it yet.”

Walker had a terrific first half in 2021, which led to his first career All-Star nod. But he stumbled in the second half, giving up 20 home runs after the All-Star break compared to the six long balls he allowed before it. The righty saw a significant increase in his workload last season — amassing 159 innings in 2021 compared to the 53 1/3 innings he recorded in 2020′s shortened pandemic season. It was the most innings he’d thrown since his 2018 Tommy John surgery.

All told, Walker finished last season with a 7-11 record and a 4.47 ERA across 30 starts. When asked if the innings caught up to Walker in 2021, he said: “Maybe.” The 29-year-old believes he was “doing too much” and being too fine in the second half, versus being aggressive and attacking hitters in the first.

“At the end of the day, I just didn’t do my job,” he said. “I didn’t go out there and perform the way I did in the first half. So my goal is to be consistent throughout the whole year this year.”