Chris Taylor: Rough at the Plate, Rough on the Field

Taylor showed some power over the past week of games, but he struggled at the plate for the most part. It’s not the kind of week we were expecting to see from CT3, but they’re the types of weeks that are bound to happen over a 162-game season. He’s hitting the ball extremely hard right now, so he should be in much better shape if he can cut back on the strikeouts.

Chris Taylor vs. Rockies

April 12 – Off-day for the Dodgers.

April 13 – CT3 in CF

Taylor has had to fill in at center field with Bellinger on the IL, and this game was no different. So far, he’s handled the outfield with ease and had no issue taking over in the meantime. When it came to his production at the plate, he opened up the series against the Rockies with a solo home run against Senzatela. His second at-bat against Senzatela, he would line out to second base. Taylor took the eighth pitch of an AB against Chacin and pulled it to left field on a line to pick up his second hit of the game. He would ground out and go down looking to finish off his day.

April 14 – Subbing In

Taylor would come into this game in the top of the seventh to play left field and would only have one at-bat. He went down looking at a frustrating called strike three. Looking at the pitch on the MLB At Bat app, the pitch was inches off the plate. 

April 15 – Jackie Robinson Day

Taylor was off to a hot start against the Rockies lefty Austin Gomber. He doubled in his first AB against him and following that up with a walk in his next plate appearance. Gomber would get him looking in their final matchup. Taylor took over at shortstop for the night and unfortunately picked up his first and only error of the season playing here.

On a ball hit to McKinstry (which he bobbled), Taylor got the throw at second and tried to get a runner going home but completely airmailed the ball over Smith’s head, allowing a run to come home and score. He would hit a hard grounder to third in his fourth at-bat of the game, and the Rockies got the lead runner at second. He would come around to score on Max Muncy’s go-ahead home run in the 7th. Estévez got Taylor swinging on a fastball at the top of the zone ending his night at the plate.

Chris Taylor vs. Padres

April 16 – Scoring on a Fielder’s Choice

In the first game of the series against the Padres, Taylor didn’t get his first hit until his third at-bat when he hit a ground ball that Tatís made a great diving play to get to but had no shot at getting Taylor. Instead, Tatís tried to get Muncy at second and threw the ball away, allowing two runs to score and giving the Dodgers the lead in the game. He struck out in his fourth AB and lined out in the following one. He reached in his final at-bat of the game when he hit a ground ball to Cronenworth, and it should’ve been a tailor-made double play, but Tatís couldn’t hold onto the ball at second. Taylor would eventually come around to score on Price’s sac fly.

April 17 – Rough at the Plate, Good on the Field

Taylor had a rough day at the plate on Saturday, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. In this game, he ended up playing second base and wound up making a very nice play to end the inning and help Kershaw escape a jam in the 6th. With Taylor playing up the middle, the ball skipped off of the mound, and he made a nice backhanded grab and would step on second himself and throw the ball to first, just beating Myers to finish off the inning-ending double play.

April 18 – Hero Shot

Taylor drove in the only runs of this game with his two-run shot against Blake Snell in the 2nd inning. Taylor obliterated the ball 443 feet, and it came off of his bat at 107.7 MPH. He did not miss the pitch. This was all Taylor had going for him in the game as he would ground out, struck out looking (another awful call inches off the plate), and pop out to end the game. 

In a rough week for Taylor, he at least had the long ball going for him this week. But that was all he had going, so over this next week, let’s hope he cuts down on the swings and misses and we can see the Taylor we saw from the first week of the season.

WEEKLY STATS:

BA: .245

OPS: .863

R: 6 (12)

Hits: 5 (12)

RBI: 4 (9)

AB: 24 (49)

BB: 1 (8)

2B: 1 (3)

3B: 0 (0)

HR: 2 (3)

SB: 0 (0)

For last week’s recap, click here.

For the latest Chris Taylor stats, click here.

PHOTO CREDIT: Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images

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