To replace Aaron Harang who was recently designated for assignment, the Seattle Mariners have called up top prospect Taijuan Walker to make his major league debut, tweets Major League Baseball.
#Mariners will select top prospect RHP @tai_walker from Triple-A Tacoma and he will make his @MLB debut Friday.
— MLB (@MLB) August 28, 2013
Walker has split the 2013 season pitching for Double-A Jackson and Triple-A Tacoma, both affiliates of the Mariners organization. He has combined to post a 2.93 ERA with 160 strikeouts in 141.1 innings this season.
Many publications rated Walker as the top prospect in the Mariners' system entering the season. He was seen as one of the best pitching prospects in the game, with renowned scouting publications Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus ranking him as the 18th and 9th best prospect in baseball, respectively. In his mid-season update, John Sickels put Walker as the 5th overall prospect in the minors, noting that "the best pitching prospect is either Walker or [Diamondbacks right hander] Archie Bradley." He also called Walker a "potential number one starter."
The 21 year old right handerwill start for the Mariners in Friday's game against the Houston Astros.