Josh Walker is the third lefty reliever we are profiling in this year’s Non-Roster Invitee series. He’s one year older than Zach Muckenhirn and about five years younger than T.J. McFarland. Walker was drafted by the Mets in the 37th round back in 2017 out of the University of New Haven. He has a low 90’s fastball, upper 70’s curveball and a changeup.
The 28-year old also received a non-roster invitation to camp last season as well. In 2021 Walker was mainly used as a starter where he had a 3.73 ERA and a 1.020 WHIP over three different levels of minor league baseball. If he was going to make the major league squad last year – it was going to be as a reliever. He picked up an injury in spring though that kept him out of most of the season. Over the 13 games he did play, he tossed 22 innings with a 4.91 ERA and a 1.455 WHIP. He got most of his work in Syracuse where he allowed 12 runs from 18 hits in 14 1/3 innings.
Then Walker went to the Arizona Fall League where he had a lot more success. He allowed four runs, three earned over 9 1/3 innings in eight games while striking out 14 batters (2.89 ERA, 1.393 WHIP).
Walker, like Muckenhirn and McFarland, will be battling it out to be the fourth lefty on the Mets (Lucchesi, Peterson, Raley). It is unlikely that he breaks camp with the Mets. That being said, if anything happens to the Mets lefty arms this season Walker is on the short list to make a short stint in the majors.
