Taijuan Walker will head to camp this spring competing with Roenis Elias and Erasmo Ramirez for the final spot in the Mariners' rotation. Walker is looking forward to battling for a spot in the rotation, per MLB.com.
"I feel like since I've been drafted, there's always been a lot of depth," Walker said. "We've had a lot of really good arms every year. It's fun competition. You want to go out there and do your best. Pitching against other guys and fighting for that spot brings out the best in everyone."
Walker arrived to camp last spring dealing with a sore shoulder, which set him back. However, the Mariners believe the highly touted prospect will be in better shape this spring.
"The thing about Taijuan is he's still growing," trainer Rick Griffin said. "He's still very young. When he lifts weights, he gets big very quickly and he learned that last year. He didn't do anything wrong. His body type is just such that when he lifts weights, he gets big quickly. So we completely changed his routine this offseason.
"He's doing things that basically center around his core, his legs and his cardio. He's not doing a lot of lifting for his upper body other than things he needs to do to maintain his flexibility and his shoulder strength. We feel going into spring that he'll be a lot better off in that way."