Thursday, March 23, 2023

Spring Training Game 26 - Walker Returns from WBC; Rays Win

2022 Topps Heritage #126
Rays 6
, Phillies 2
Spring Training Game 26 - Wednesday Afternoon, March 22nd in St. Petersburg
Record - 12-13-1

One Sentence Summary:  Taijuan Walker, returning from the World Baseball Classic, was hit hard in his start as the Phillies lost to the Rays, 6-2.

What It Means:  There are six more spring training games remaining.

What Happened:  Nothing to be too concerned with where Walker is concerned.  He pitched into the fifth inning, and his final line shows 6 runs on 8 hits and a pair of walks.  Walker struck out five.  Andrew Vasquez pitched the final two scoreless innings, striking out three.  The Phillies offense was relatively quiet with Kody Clemens driving in both runs with a two-run single in the sixth.  Clemens and Scott Kingery also had doubles.

Featured Card:  We need to wait a little bit longer for Walker's first Phillies baseball card, but here's his most recently available mainstream card from last year's Topps Heritage set.

Camp Head Count:  50

The Phillies have taken a different approach to trimming the roster in 2023, with very few actual roster moves through the first month-plus of spring training.  In prior years, by this point in the exhibition season, we'd be down to the 30s with the camp head count.

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