Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Welcome to the Blue, Chris Taylor!


Over this past weekend the Dodgers made a move to add more depth on their infield.  They traded former 2010 first round draft pick Zach Lee to the Seattle Mariners for infield prospect Chris Taylor.  Via a Dodger press release:
Taylor, 25, was hitting .312 with 41 runs, 19 doubles, four triples, three home runs, 29 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 63 games with Triple-A Tacoma, including a .414 mark with runners in scoring position (24-for-58). He played in two games with Seattle this year, going 1-for-3, and has appeared in 86 big league games in three seasons with the Mariners from 2014-16, batting .240 with 11 doubles, a triple and 10 RBI. In the Majors, Taylor appeared in 76 games (66 starts) at shortstop, four games (two starts) at second base and one game at third base.

In parts of five minor league seasons, he has hit .314 with 299 runs, 101 doubles, 29 triples, 22 home runs and 180 RBI in 407 games, earning All-Star honors in 2013 (Single-A California League) and 2014 (Triple-A Pacific Coast League). Taylor was drafted by Seattle in the fifth round of the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Virginia.
The Dodgers immediately sent him to Triple-A Oklahoma City, and he will provide some insurance for a Dodgers middle infield that is a bit bare beyond shortstop Corey Seager.  The Dodgers have two aging veterans (Utley and Kendricks) and an inconsistent youngster (Kiké Hernandez) manning those spots currently.  Best yet, Taylor has had some good numbers in Triple-A the past couple seasons, so he could turn into a diamond in the rough should he be given more time at the big league level. 

In celebration of his joining the Dodgers system I made the above fantasy Baseball card of him.  I used a photo grabbed from Getty/2015 Mariners Photo Day and Paul Sancya/AP at MiLB with the 1983 Topps Baseball card design.

Below are his career stats, via Baseball Reference:


* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *
* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...