"Did he give himself the blister" — Phillies fans troll starter Taijuan Walker as index finger injury casts doubt over his status

Rob Thomson's decision to remove Taijuan Walker from the Phillies rotation got a lot easier. A few hours after stating that he was healthy, it was reported that the pitcher has blisters on his right index finger that might keep him out of action from his next start.

Taijuan Walker has proved to be the weak link in the Phillies rotation. In his 10 starts this season, he has a 5.60 ERA with a 3-3 record. The other four starters in the Phillies rotation each have less than a 3.54 ERA. In his most recent start, Walker gave away four runs on five hits with three strikeouts and three walks against the Baltimore Orioles.

There have been continuous calls from the Phillies fanbase to remove Walker and instead bring back Spencer Turnbull, who was the fifth starter during a stint in May. After Walker came back, Turnbull was removed from the rotation to manage his workload. He has pitched a total of 48.1 innings so far, with 32.1 of them coming as a starter.

With Walker now headed to a day-to-day status, it is unlikely that he will start against the Detroit Tigers as previously expected. Phillies fans on social media were skeptical about the reports, as they are unsure about the nature and timing of Taijuan's injury.

"Hahahaha yesssssssss did he give himself the blister on the way in this morning?," one fan wrote.

"Yeah let’s call it that," another fan wrote.

"I think a blister like that deserves an IL stint, maybe a 15 day or even better a 60 day!!!," a fan sarcastically commented.

"Dave has to find a way to get this guy off the roster at the deadline," another fan said.

"Blister must be the new DFA lol," one fan said jokingly.

"Man, a blister that lasted 4 months?," one fan questioned.

"Let’s put him on season ending IL for blisters…. Please," a fan requested.

Taijuan Walker needs to get his splinter back

One of the major reasons Walker hasn't been able to find his 2023 form is the lack of an effective splitter. His go-to pitch, which he threw 33.2% in the previous year has been almost absent this year. Opposition batters could only hit .205 against the splitter. In comparison, this season they are hitting .426, with 23-56 against it.

A major reason the splitter isn't working is that Walker is only averaging around 90.5 mph on his pitches. Blister or not, if Taijuan Walker has to make a strong comeback into a star-studded Phillies rotation, then he will have to fix both these problems.