Chris Taylor started the season as Nobody and is now a permanent member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team of the moment in the MLB. The trained shortstop now plays everywhere and can hardly be held offensively. The decisive development for this started last winter.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are heading for a historic victory in the Regular Season and seem to be unstoppable these days. One reason for this incredible consistency is the depth of management, with which Manager Dave Roberts’ team absorbs almost any injury without great hardship.
One player who comes across as a symbol of this “next man up” mentality is Chris Taylor. A player that basically nobody had on the paper before the season.
And why is that? Taylor was one of those failed draft picks from the last few years. The Seattle Mariners pulled him in the fifth round in 2012 as a shortstop. He then quickly went through the Minors and made his debut in 2014 with a hit in the first game. But when it really started in 2015, he broke his wrist through a hit-by-pitch and was away from the window.
Last weekend, Taylor hit two home runs in the Mets series, scoring nine runs and beating six home after just a few days in August. For connoisseurs of the scene as well as the ordinary fan no longer a rarity. Taylor’s on the Dodgers’ winning team.
He now has a total of 15 home runs and 54 RBI and has already beaten three Grand Slams this year – no one else has ever managed more in the Dodgers’ jersey in one season. So he’s arrived in the Big Leagues and Chavez Ravine.
He is not only a follower, but is also a permanent member of the team. He is a starter and it’s hard to imagine life without him, his hits in important moments are too important. In August alone, his home runs were groundbreaking. Twice he brought his team into the lead, once he started a chase to catch up.
In addition, Taylor beats .293 with runners on base, .298 with runners in scoring position and insane .800 with bases loaded. The American calls it a clutch.
In 2016, the Mariners sent him to Los Angeles for Pitcher Zach Lee – also one who had not prevailed and is now active in the Padres organization. For Taylor this was the start of a new era, a change of scenery at the right time.
And the deal was fruitful at first. After he was ordered from the Minors to the MLB in mid-July, he directly hit a Grand Slam for his first home run in the Big Leagues! Previously only Preston Ward in 1948 and Chico Fernandez in 1956 in the Dodgers’ jersey were able to do so.
But this also fell into the category with the blind chicken and the grain, because all in all Taylor beat a meager .207 in 34 games. Not very convincing, then.
In Spring Training 2017 Taylor saw his chance and he grabbed it. In 22 games he beat .354 with a fabulous .983 OPS. To the surprise of some, however, this was not enough for the Dodgers, so Taylor was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
He only stayed there for a few weeks, as the Dodgers welcomed him back on April 19 – the injury to Second Baseman Logan Forsythe made it necessary. But it didn’t stop at missions in the infield. Rather, in addition to his percussive performance, he was also determined by his flexibility.
“I used to play only in the middle of the infield and I knew that we had a lot of good infielders in this team. So if I wanted more playing time, I had to learn the infield corners and of course the outfield,” Taylor explained the reasons for his broadening his horizons: “I’m just glad I got the chance.
His greatly improved impact performance in turn is due to his work in the offseason. At that time, with the help of a hitting consultant, he adjusted his momentum and reinvented himself.
It was probably the best, because when I went down to Triple-A I had to fight early and I think I needed some more At-Bats for my new swing. I had to fight my way through it and keep learning.”
Taylor even went one step further: “If I had started the year in the Big Leagues and had had these problems, I probably wouldn’t have had another chance later. Who knows? “I’m just glad things have turned out this way.”
Before Taylor had found his current seemingly permanent place in Left Field, he was cheerfully rotated through lineup and batting orders. All outfield positions as well as second and third base were present. The bottom line is five positions – six if you count shortstop, but there is no getting past Corey Seager, who is already one of the best in the industry.
In the batting order, on the other hand, he already beat in every slot. And it is impossible to imagine this one without him. His numbers are too good. Especially the 15 home runs after 93 games including OPS of .927 and the .312 shot average are extraordinary for a super utility player like him. That he has already beaten three Grand Slams this year and thus set the Dodger season record is just an extra income.
But what exactly led to its new form? First and foremost, Taylor and Hitting Consultant Robert Van Scoyoc worked on two things in Arizona in October: For one thing, Taylor changed his grip. Unlike before, his hands are now directly on the knob and no longer a few centimetres above it.
In addition, his swing now includes a much more pronounced “leg kick”, his left leg is lifted higher before the swing than before and comes more powerfully to the floor at the same time as the swing. As a result, Taylor can better “drive” the ball and produce more fly balls. Previously, he tended to hit the ball on the ground, which led to more easy outs.
“Smaller changes can feel drastic in baseball,” said Taylor, who emphasized: “You have to be 100% convinced if you want to make such changes to your swing. And that’s how it started,” he said, referring to his significant improvement in performance this season.
His value in the team, however, has never been higher than it is now. This is also underlined by FanGraphs, because in the wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created Plus) category it has been 203 since the All-Star break, which is the best score in the National League. Trivially speaking, according to this calculation, he is over 100 percent better than the average player in the corresponding position when it comes to contributing to the achievement of runs in all possible ways.
By comparison, Seager’s score in the period is 178, while a Cody Bellinger doesn’t even appear in the top 30 of the entire league. Nobody would have expected it, but Taylor surprised everyone, from team leaders to external experts.
A literal stopgap with problems in finding a place at all in the squad has become an indispensable fill-in within a few months. One for whom there is no need for a gap, but one for whom they find a new gap every day because he simply has to play.
This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.
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