GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chris Taylor will tell you – the swing that lifted him out of the minor leagues, made him an All-Star in 2021 and got him a four-year, $60 million contract from the Dodgers is not “my natural swing.”
His natural swing wasn’t suited for the 21st century major leagues. Working with hitting guru Craig Wollenbrock and his protegee, current Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc, Taylor overhauled his swing, adding a leg kick, an uppercut and more aggression.
The resulting version has more moving parts. And those parts have not been moving in sync for some time now.
Taylor hit just .221 last season with the second-highest strikeout rate (35.4%) of any player with at least 400 plate appearances. Only Joey Gallo had a higher rate. Taylor missed on 39.9% of his swings last season – only two players with at least 250 plate appearances had higher whiff rates last season (Gallo at 40.6 and Milwaukee’s Keston Hiura at 40.1).
The problem has persisted into spring training, where Taylor has started 3 for 26 with 10 strikeouts in Cactus League play.
“With CT, we all know how hard he works, how much he’s going to grind and compete. Right now he just seems out of whack,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s what spring training is for. There’s nothing that says you’ve got to be locked in right now. We’ve got plenty of time. But right now he just seems a little out of whack.”
There were clear reasons for Taylor to be “out of whack” last season. He underwent surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow in November 2021 and faced more physical challenges during the 2022 season – a fracture in his left foot in July and a nagging neck injury.
Taylor dismissed injuries as an explanation for his down year last season, saying “I’m 100 percent now.” But Roberts offers “a recalibration of the body” as Taylor’s challenge this spring.
“I think I’ll make the excuses for him, in the sense of, last year, I…
Read the full article here
