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Walker intrigued by Blue Jays reunion: 'The team is really good'

Jim McIsaac / Getty Images Sport / Getty

It appears that free-agent pitcher Taijuan Walker would consider a reunion with the Toronto Blue Jays.

"Look, the team is really good," the 28-year-old recently told Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith about possibly re-signing with Toronto. "They're going to be good for a long time, man. Right away I connected with everyone.

"They have really good staff, coaches, training staff," he added. "For me, it's all about comfort and people. Being connected and having that family, and that's what it felt like."

The Blue Jays acquired Walker from the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 27. He pitched well for Toronto down the stretch, going 2-1 with a 1.37 ERA during six starts.

Those stats, combined with how he performed in Seattle (2-2, 1.07 WHIP), have put Walker in a good position to find work this offseason.

However, he intends to do more to separate himself from other free-agent pitchers, including expanding his pitching repertoire through the use of advanced baseball technology, which he didn't fully dive into last season because of the shortened campaign.

"A month and a half is not a lot of time to really focus on all of that stuff, so, I feel like there's just a lot more that I can do to unlock my full potential. (The Blue Jays) have so much technology and so many resources that I would love to go back and dive into that with them," Walker explained.

"Because they're so smart. They know what they're talking about. I think it'd be awesome just to have a full offseason with them, or even spring training, just to dial all that in."

In 2020, Walker made more than three starts for the first time since 2017 after he missed substantial time recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Over the span of eight seasons, the Louisiana native owns a 35-34 record with a 3.84 ERA and 4.24 FIP across 108 appearances, including 105 starts.

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