Generally there is very little High School baseball on Saturdays, unless it's tournament season around Easter. Yesterday, there were three games at Arrowhead Credit Union Stadium (home of the Inland Empire 66'ers). The highlight of the three games was getting to see Taijuan Walker of Yucaipa High School pitch again.
Walker spun a no hitter just two weeks ago, but had his roughest outing of the 2010 season last week as he didn't make it out of the second inning. Yesterday's start was a big one for the right hander, as we see how he would bounce back from such a disastrous start the previous week. If yesterday was to be considered a test, it is safe to say he passed with flying colors.
In previous starts, Taijuan worked primarily with a fastball/slider combo, with the fastball around 90-92, and touching as high as 96. His slider had ranged anywhere from 80-85 with late break. Yesterday, however, Walker was using his spike curveball much more than in other starts, with nearly twenty percent of his pitches being the slower curveball. Yesterday the curve was a true knee buckler, with big downward break. The curve ranged from 71 to 78, and it looked like Walker's delivery slows down a bit when he throws the curve, something to work on down the road. Aside from one slider that was thrown in the first inning, Walker used just the fastball and curve for the first four innings. After the fourth inning, Walker implemented the slide piece much more, and it was coming in at 80-85.
Walker was perfect for the first five innings, with few balls being hit very hard. In the top of the sixth inning, Walker legged out a high chopper to the pitcher that was ruled an error. After hustling from first to third on a base knock, Walker then scored on a ground ball. I only mention this because the coach pinch ran for another runner in the inning, but did not pinch run to rest his pitcher who was throwing a perfect game (keep in mind that players can re-enter in high school ball).
After taking the mound in the sixth inning, after running the bases (plus it was a hot 85 degrees), Walker looked more fatigued and not as sharp to start the sixth inning. In the sixth, Walker gave up a weak single to right field, made an error on a pickoff throw to first base, walked a hitter, gave up an infield single and had a wild pitch. The sixth wasn't a good inning at all for Walker, but he was able to gather himself, and he did unleash his best slider of the day for a punchout to end the inning.
Walker had a perfect frame in the seventh, and ended the game with a 91 mph fastball. Most of the fastballs in the sixth were 87-89. On the day, Walker struck out twelve and walked just one. It was nice to see him mixing all three pitches in the middle innings, and throwing them all for strikes. Offensively, Walker had another opposite field home run, and a double in four at bats, the kid is truly a special athlete. After the game, Walker was named the player of the game.
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