Michael A. Taylor - Kansas City Royal

[imref]

Good luck Mike.

[DCFan]

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Nice landing spot for him.  Their CF is pretty open, and he's arguably had more success in the majors than any of the other contenders.

[Count Walewski]

He definitely won't be the most beloved professional athlete in KC like he was in DC, but should get plenty of playing time in some hitter-friendly parks.

[welch]

Taylor belongs in CF for the Nats. MAT currently hitting .261 with OPS of .733.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/taylomi02.shtml

Robles: .225 BA with .642 OPS

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/roblevi01.shtml

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Taylor belongs in CF for the Nats. MAT currently hitting .261 with OPS of .733.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/taylomi02.shtml

Robles: .225 BA with .642 OPS

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/roblevi01.shtml

.733 OPS isn't much, either.  puts him 14th out of 26 qualified CF.  Of course, Robles is 20th. Going a back to 2019-2021, .733 is 40th among 102 CF with 50 PAs.  Middling.  I guess that's better than what Robles is giving us now, but not a ton.

[Slateman]

Taylor started off the season scorching hot, but has come back down to Earth. In his last 22 PA's (7 games) he's hitting .105/.227/.105 with over a 30% K rate.

Pull Robles and put Stevenson in. Get Robles into some coaching and see where he is after a month. If he still needs work, send him to the minors.

[Smithian]

Taylor started off the season scorching hot, but has come back down to Earth. In his last 22 PA's (7 games) he's hitting .105/.227/.105 with over a 30% K rate.

Pull Robles and put Stevenson in. Get Robles into some coaching and see where he is after a month. If he still needs work, send him to the minors.

Taylor will eventually settle into a bench role. Then he'll hit have a couple massive pinch hit knocks and look good as a defensive sub. The Royals will be convinced his time is upon them, and they'll begin using him as a starter again. And the process will play out again.

Before Taylor, it was Bernadina. And I'm progressively more confident Andrew Stevenson may continue the tradition.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Oh, he's a starting CF on a second division team, or a good 4th on a contender.

[Natsinpwc]

Oh, he's a starting CF on a second division team, or a good 4th on a contender.

The team that could have used him is the Phillies. Roman Quinn is terrible. Haseley is out with some personal issue. Moniak called up but not hitting. Kingery is broken. Oduble awaiting the call.

[Slateman]

Taylor will eventually settle into a bench role. Then he'll hit have a couple massive pinch hit knocks and look good as a defensive sub. The Royals will be convinced his time is upon them, and they'll begin using him as a starter again. And the process will play out again.

Before Taylor, it was Bernadina. And I'm progressively more confident Andrew Stevenson may continue the tradition.

I could see an analytics heavy team tweeking his swing and getting hin to a .270/.325/.475 hitter with plus defense

[welch]

His stats as of 4/27:

1.1 WAR so far this season, BA .288, 2 homers, 3 stolen bases, .741 OPS. (The swashbuckling star in CF for the Nats: .3 WAR, .214 average, 1 stolen base, no homers, .611 OPS.)

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/taylomi02.shtml

[UMDNats]

His stats as of 4/27:

1.1 WAR so far this season, BA .288, 2 homers, 3 stolen bases, .741 OPS. (The swashbuckling star in CF for the Nats: .3 WAR, .214 average, 1 stolen base, no homers, .611 OPS.)

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/taylomi02.shtml

last 15 games - .545 OPS. He'll end up where he usually does.

Robles has been dogcrap but MAT is who we thought he was.

[bluestreak]

last 15 games - .545 OPS. He'll end up where he usually does.

Robles has been dogcrap but MAT is who we thought he was.

15 has to be close to the whole season...

[Natsinpwc]

His stats as of 4/27:

1.1 WAR so far this season, BA .288, 2 homers, 3 stolen bases, .741 OPS. (The swashbuckling star in CF for the Nats: .3 WAR, .214 average, 1 stolen base, no homers, .611 OPS.)

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/taylomi02.shtml

So we just need to be patient with Robles and he will get there in a few years. 

[GburgNatsFan]

So we just need to be patient with Robles and he will get there in a few years.

After he's left.

[Elvir Ovcina]

15 has to be close to the whole season...

I think it conveniently avoids the first two games of the season, in which he went 5-9 with 2 homers.  Why those don't count, I couldn't tell you other than because it's convenient to avoid them.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I think it conveniently avoids the first two games of the season, in which he went 5-9 with 2 homers.  Why those don't count, I couldn't tell you other than because it's convenient to avoid them.

I guess the major point here is that a guy who can occasionally have a big game had 2 at the start of the season, which is propping up his season stats right now? But you are right - that's what you buy when you play Michael Taylor. You get a few amazing games and a lot  of subpar O with great D.  The season stat is representative of both the good MAT and the more common MAT.  It may also show that the subpar O isn't as bad as his subpar O from 2018-2020, so the whole mix is as close to peak MAT as you get (2017).

[bluestreak]

I don’t know what to make of MAT. I think we can all agree he was good in 2017. He seemed to finally put it together. But after that he got a new manager, had the big prospect coming and wasn’t given any vote of confidence or guaranteed playing time. I think I remember that being the year he cobbled together a double digit game hit streak with only pinch hit appearances. Martinez didn’t want to play him. When he played in the 2019 playoffs he was decent again.
I just think he plays well when he knows he’s got the job for a bit. Eaton’s injury, Robles’ injury, Royals signing him to start, etc. and he doesn’t do well when he’s told, “hit now or I’m benching you.”
And not being able to hit in that situation is a definite liability for someone who wants to be a major leaguer.

I’ll be interested to see how this year plays out in KC.

[imref]

I don’t know what to make of MAT. I think we can all agree he was good in 2017. He seemed to finally put it together. But after that he got a new manager, had the big prospect coming and wasn’t given any vote of confidence or guaranteed playing time. I think I remember that being the year he cobbled together a double digit game hit streak with only pinch hit appearances. Martinez didn’t want to play him. When he played in the 2019 playoffs he was decent again.
I just think he plays well when he knows he’s got the job for a bit. Eaton’s injury, Robles’ injury, Royals signing him to start, etc. and he doesn’t do well when he’s told, “hit now or I’m benching you.”
And not being able to hit in that situation is a definite liability for someone who wants to be a major leaguer.

I’ll be interested to see how this year plays out in KC.

Agreed.  He was a streaky player here, there were times where he looked like a solid player, and times where he looked lost. He had a ton of opportunities here, and probably would still be on the team if not for the belief that Robles was a stud, and the emergence of Stevenson.

[Slateman]

I guess the major point here is that a guy who can occasionally have a big game had 2 at the start of the season, which is propping up his season stats right now? But you are right - that's what you buy when you play Michael Taylor. You get a few amazing games and a lot  of subpar O with great D.  The season stat is representative of both the good MAT and the more common MAT.  It may also show that the subpar O isn't as bad as his subpar O from 2018-2020, so the whole mix is as close to peak MAT as you get (2017).

By why not look at the last 8 games, where he's hitting .333

[nfotiu]

Agreed.  He was a streaky player here, there were times where he looked like a solid player, and times where he looked lost. He had a ton of opportunities here, and probably would still be on the team if not for the belief that Robles was a stud, and the emergence of Stevenson.

And he got expensive.   He was due to make about 3 million more than either Stevenson or Robles, and really no reason to think he'd be a better player.

[Elvir Ovcina]

And he got expensive.   He was due to make about 3 million more than either Stevenson or Robles, and really no reason to think he'd be a better player.

Sure, but you can non-tender a guy and still re-sign him.  He now makes $1.75 million, which is hardly crushing.  Yes, it's still 3 times Robles, but it's also only 250k more than the backup catcher.

[GburgNatsFan]

Seemed that way to me.

Sure, but you can non-tender a guy and still re-sign him.  He now makes $1.75 million, which is hardly crushing.  Yes, it's still 3 times Robles, but it's also only 250k more than the backup catcher.

[aspenbubba]

.262 and still has only the initial 2 HR's. I do not know where all the man crush came from for this guy. He had one good year under Rusty in 2017 and what we use to say in sail boat racing is what goes up must come down.