PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida – Taijuan Walker takes a back seat to his new team – Mr. Met.
A day after the Mets ended his $ 23 million, $ 23 million contract, Walker said the resounding baseball-headed pet had left him his favorite shirt number.
“I was 44 years old growing up and I finally got it with the Mariners in 2016,” Walker said Tuesday. “And then I ended up negotiating at the end of the year, and when I switched to the Diamondbacks, Paul Goldschmidt was number 44. So I was, okay, I’ll never get it again.”
So Walker thought, “What number can I bring so there aren’t a lot of people in the league?”
He chose the 99.
“And I think the only way not to bring 99 of them is if I switch to the Yankees,” he said. “So I was, okay, 99 is a safe bet and living with that.”
“And then of course last year I moved to Toronto and (Hyun Jin) Ryu wears 99. So it was like, okay, well, that didn’t work. So I’m wearing 00. Something different, again “.
“And of course, this year, Mr. Met has 00. So I brought the 99 back.”
The only Mets number 99 above was Turk Wendell from 1997 to 2001, according to Baseball Reference.