It doesn’t feel right to throw all kinds of expectations at Taijuan Walker because he has joined a rotation that didn’t weather the hype very well last season.
But you stand next to him, and you listen to him, and you watch him pitch and you wonder if something special might happen here.
In his first three outings, the Diamondbacks right-hander allowed three hits in nine scoreless innings, striking out 13 and walking one. Through four innings against the Chicago Cubs Wednesday night, he had eight strikeouts and allowed three runs in four innings against a lineup that included six Cubs regulars.