Patience pays off for Walker with ASG nod

Taijuan Walker knows a little something about patience. He had to sit out an entire season in 2019 while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He had to wait well into February this offseason before the Mets finally signed him to a two-year deal. And all the way up to Friday, he had to wait deep into the night -- long after his final pitching line had entered the box score -- to officially find out he’d been named as a replacement for the 2021 All-Star Game.

Suffice to say, for both Walker and the Mets, it’s all been well worth the wait.

Manager Luis Rojas was eager to make the announcement after Friday night’s 13-4 rout of the Pirates, opening his postgame Zoom with the news.

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“He was expecting it could happen and so it did,” Rojas said. “I think he’s going to be able to actually pitch [in the game]. This will be three days off, so he’s very excited.”

Walker’s rotation-mate, Jacob deGrom, was named an All-Star but decided not to attend, preferring to keep his focus on making his scheduled starts. But the frontrunner for the National League Cy Young Award had been lobbying for Walker to replace him from the start.

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“Jake’s the best pitcher in the league,” Walker said. “For him to publicly come out and say I should be an All-Star meant a lot to me.”

It’s been an interesting journey to a first All-Star appearance for Walker, a nine-year veteran with four different teams who sat on the free-agent market deep into the winter, waiting to be signed. The Mets, a starting-pitching-needy club at the time, swooped in and inked him to a two-year deal that now looks like one of the steals of the offseason. All the big right-hander has done is pitch to the tune of a 2.50 ERA through 16 starts with 89 strikeouts in 90 innings.

He’s largely been dominant throughout this first half of 2021, although Walker showed on Friday that he can grind through starts, as well, as All-Star-caliber pitchers sometimes must. Limiting damage was key on a day when he did not necessarily have swing-and-miss stuff -- inducing just six whiffs in his outing and striking out two, tied for a season low. Still, he was able to keep his team in the game through five innings, allowing just two runs and remaining unbeaten at Citi Field this season. The Mets improved to 8-0 in games he’s started in Queens.

Walker showed up to a postgame Zoom on Friday night with the signature WWE championship belt around his shoulder, a gimmick this close-knit Mets team has carried on throughout the season. This club pulls for one another so much, in fact, that Walker said the thing he’s most excited to watch this week is “Pete [Alonso] winning the Home Run Derby.” That’s the way it goes in this Mets clubhouse. If there was anyone happier about Walker going to the All-Star Game than the pitcher himself, it was his teammates -- from Marcus Stroman to deGrom to Francisco Lindor -- who all know just how deserving he is.

“He’s a great starter, a great person. His leadership role he’s brought to the team is amazing,” Lindor said. “The All-Star Game is the greatest event of all summer, so getting to see him go, getting the notice he deserves … is special.”