SARASOTA – Reliever Josh Walker doesn’t let much bother him. If he were a meme this offseason, he would have sipped coffee while his house burned.

The Orioles selected Walker on waivers from the Phillies in August, the Braves selected him in November and the Orioles claimed him again a month later. They designated him for assignment a second time and outrighted him Jan. 7.

Lewin Díaz looked at this and thought, “Man, that’s a lot of transactions.”

The chaos didn’t rattle Walker, who signed a one-year major league contract on Nov. 4 as a pre-arbitration player – a tactic intended to dissuade teams from claiming him and keep him in the organization if space is needed on the 40-man roster.

“It was interesting for sure,” he said. “I was just kind of focusing on training and then wherever I was gonna end up, I was gonna end up. Just letting the process play out. It was a little weird during the holidays being in waiver limbo for a few weeks, but I was trying not to really dwell on it too much and worry about that. Just trust that it was going to work out the way it was meant to.

“As long as I’m taking care of what I’m supposed to be doing, getting good work in and improving in areas that I needed to, then wherever I ended up, let that play out. So I wasn’t dwelling on it too much. Just trusting the process and seeing how the chips fell.”

The calmness might come from being a 37th-round draft pick of the Mets in 2017, territory that doesn’t even exist anymore. He’s accustomed to beating the odds.

The Pirates traded for him on July 30, 2024, released him Aug. 10 and re-signed him five days later. The Phillies got him in a May 29, 2025 cash deal with the Blue Jays and lost him to the Orioles, who had their own plans for him.

“I know we had the injury guys on the 60-day who were coming off, and we did that pre-tender deal, which would keep me here if I cleared waivers. So I knew they were interested,” Walker said.

“I was coming off kind of a tough year and I needed to make some adjustments to improve in some areas. I know this is a great org, there’s a lot of great people here. The staff’s awesome. So I’m happy to still be here. I didn’t really talk to anybody about why exactly the process went the way it did, but I don’t want to get too caught up in that stuff. I just want to focus on doing my job and getting better so that I can do it to the best of my ability and help the team hopefully when they call my name.”

Walker has pitched in 27 major league games and registered a 6.59 ERA and 1.720 WHIP. He allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings with Toronto last year, striking out eight, and two earned runs with seven strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings with Triple-A Norfolk.

A change had to be made by a reliever tasked with saving his career instead of games. A sore shoulder didn’t sideline Walker but it caused his arm slot to lower, which impacted his velocity and command. He couldn’t do much tinkering during the season while trying to get outs.  

“When I got to Norfolk after these guys picked me up, I decided I was just gonna attack guys and I’ll work on that stuff in the offseason, and I had a pretty good stretch of getting guys out and put together some good outings consecutively.” Walker said. “And so I knew at that point it was like, my stuff’s pretty good, I can just keep attacking people and work on that in the offseason to get those numbers back up. And I think I did pretty good work.

“Gonna let it play out this year and continue with that mentality of filling up the zone and attacking hitters.”

The bullpen is far from settled and Walker is in the mix as a third left-hander with Keegan Akin and Dietrich Enns. Grant Wolfram also is on the 40-man and Cade Povich is a consideration if he isn’t in the rotation.

“That’s what everybody’s fighting for,” Walker said. “We’ve got a lot of good arms in here, a lot of young guys who haven’t seen big league time yet, some awesome potential. It’s gonna be a competitive spring, but I definitely think there’s an opportunity and I’m just gonna let my work play out and let those chips fall and see whatever decision these guys make. But I’ll be playing every day this spring to show them I’m a guy who can help us win games.”

Maybe they should just wrestle for it.

Walker is 6 feet 6 and looks like he’s chiseled out of stone. He’s an impressive specimen.

“We’re abusing our bodies every day as athletes, so you’ve got to take care of our machines. You know what I mean?” he said.

“Just trying to put the right things in my body. And I’ve always thought about maintaining my body year-round so I’m never losing that edge physically. Just doing everything I can to put myself in the best position to succeed, and also recover. The better shape I’m in, like not drinking and whatnot and staying away from that stuff, it just helps you. It’s a long season, so you’ve got to take care of your body so you can be ready to go two games out of three and whatever is demanded of you to win games.

“Just trying to stay on top because you have a short window that you can be a professional athlete as you’re getting older and older, so just try to be mindful of that. That’s always been a priority to not have to worry about the physical side of things. Stay on top of that in the weight room and the training room and with nutrition. That’s like No. 1. If I didn’t get in the gym enough, I’d be skinny, I’d be a long lanky guy.

“I know a lot of the guys comment, ‘What are you eating, what are you doing?’ It’s funny. And I’m blessed with some great genetics from my parents.”

Walker’s father is 6 foot 2 and his mother is 5 foot 10. He’s the tallest brother, with the others 6 foot 4 and 6 foot 2.

“That helps getting some leverage on the mound,” he said, “especially being left-handed and coming down from a higher slot.”

Asked yesterday whether he’s seen much of Walker, manager Craig Albernaz smiled and said, “Yeah. He’s tough to miss. He’s a big dude. That’s a theme here in this camp, in this organization, this team. There’s a lot of big dudes. He’s a physical presence.

“We faced him once, and again, it’s so different when you’re in the dugout watching him and you’re up close watching him throw ‘pens. For such a big dude he moves so well down the mound and he has an idea of what he wants to do, and he’s been working well with our pitching coaches. A guy like him, he’s another option, plus he’s left-handed. He’s been looking great. I’m excited to see him and all our guys go out there and pitch.”

Walker could do some damage if a fight breaks out and bullpens empty.

 “There’s a list of those guys,” Albernaz said. “I’ll be hiding in the back behind them, coming out like a spider monkey, because these guys are huge. Like the sneak attack approach.”

Notes: Outfielder Leody Taveras has switched from No. 40 to 67 to accommodate new starter Chris Bassitt.

The Royals announced that they signed former Orioles pitcher John Means to a two-year minor league contract.

Means ruptured his Achilles tendon in December while attempting to return from his second Tommy John surgery.