Unknown Walker key for Seattle

Seattle right-hander Taijuan Walker has had an impressive spring, but team officials are waiting to see if that success can carry over into the regular season.
Seattle right-hander Taijuan Walker has had an impressive spring, but team officials are waiting to see if that success can carry over into the regular season.

PEORIA, Ariz. -- When Felix Hernandez took the mound Thursday afternoon under a cloudless sky, the crowd at the Peoria Sports Complex dutifully and enthusiastically cheered. Even in March, all hail the king.

What happened next was among the most predictable developments in what is normally an unpredictable month. Hernandez turned in six innings of two-hit, one-run ball with four strikeouts and no walks.

"I feel like I'm where I want to be," he told reporters afterward.

There is no overstating two aspects to this Seattle spring: The vibe of optimism, and Hernandez's place in it. But in an odd way, Hernandez isn't the most important person in Seattle's camp.

Nor is second baseman Robinson Cano, the $240 million man whose free agent signing a year ago gave this franchise's postseason aspirations legitimacy. Nor is Nelson Cruz, baseball's leading home run hitter last summer who signed on to fill a power void in the Mariners' lineup. Nor is it Kyle Seager, the still-developing $100 million third baseman, nor Fernando Rodney, the only sure thing in what was the majors' best bullpen last year.

Rather, the most important person here has a career record of 3-3 and has made all of eight major-league starts. But if the Mariners end up being what they believe they can be then Taijuan Walker must become less of a prospect and more of a finished product.

"We know we have a good team," Walker said Thursday morning. "I feel like the energy in the clubhouse is phenomenal, and I feel like everyone knows how good we can be and everyone's not looking too far ahead."

Walker can't look too far behind, either. Not to Wednesday night, when he dominated the Chicago Cubs with six overpowering innings that included 2 hits, 1 walk and 6 strikeouts while not allowing a run. That fit nicely into a spring in which he has 19 strikeouts, 4 walks, no runs allowed and a .103 batting average in 18 innings over 5 appearances.

"He's done OK," Seattle Manager Lloyd McClendon said, a deliberate attempt to tamp down expectations and a reminder that although Walker was a first-round draft pick in 2010, the Mariners have seemingly been waiting on him for three years.

"The maturity factor's an issue, though he has come into spring training and he's been on a mission," Seattle General Manager Jack Zduriencik said. "I think everyone can attest to it. He's handled himself very well. He's a great worker. He's a terrific athlete. He's got great stuff.

"Everyone in the organization since the day he came here has been waiting for his time, his maturation, and I think that what he's shown us. This spring has been very, very impressive."

The prism through which Walker is viewed this spring is multifaceted. Start with the fact the Mariners missed last year's postseason by a single game. Add to it the fact that only Hernandez has a more dynamic arm on Seattle's roster. Consider, too, that Seattle has the makings of a very good rotation. Last year, Hernandez, the perennially underappreciated Hisashi Iwakuma, veteran Chris Young and emerging Roenis Elias combined for 120 starts and a 3.30 ERA.

The problem was the fifth spot. The solution is Walker.

"When you look at our fifth starter last year, just the stats from that spot, it would make a difference," pitching coach Rick Waits said. "We have a chance... . When you have five really good ones out there, from top to bottom, you're talking about being better day in and day out."

The Mariners let Young walk, although his raw numbers (3.65 ERA) looked better than how he might have pitched, and he ended up with Kansas City. They traded for Toronto veteran J.A. Happ, and they expect 26-year-old James Paxton to emerge in what is likely his first full big-league season.

But if Walker beats out Elias -- and the latter started against Milwaukee in a split-squad game Thursday, allowing the first three men to reach and then a grand slam in coughing up six runs in three innings -- for the final spot, he could thrust himself to the forefront of that rotation.

"I don't care who you are," Waits said. "When you come up ou're a No. 5, whether you're a Verlander or a Kershaw."

Walker isn't that yet. Not close. But even with the arrival of Cruz to a lineup that ranked 11th in the American League in runs scored and 12th in slugging percentage last year, this team is built on pitching.

Walker, if he's who he appears to be, could close the gap between perception and reality. He has four legitimate pitches, high-90s heat, but a change-up that has developed into his second-best pitch to go along with a curve and slider, and is learning how to use them each time out. He has watched Hernandez, with perhaps the best change in the game, to learn where to throw that pitch. And he loves it.

"He could go out and pitch with his fastball and change-up right now and have some success," Waits said.

The Mariners know Hernandez will make his 30-something starts, throw his 200-something innings and contend for a Cy Young award. They know Cano will be among the best second basemen in the game, and he will hit. Cruz might not hit 40 home runs, as he did with the Orioles last year, but he will fit perfectly between Cano and Seager in the lineup, changing their offensive presence.

What they don't know, as they begin their quest for their first postseason berth in 14 years, is what exactly they'll get from Walker, their immensely talented, exceedingly young and still-maturing fifth starter.

"I'm trying to come in and compete and just go out there and treat every game like it was midseason," Walker said.

If Walker gets to midseason, and the results resemble anything like they do now, look out for the Mariners.

Sports on 03/29/2015

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