The Los Angeles Dodgers lineup received a boost last month when Chris Taylor was reinstated from the 15-day injured list after missing time due to a fractured foot.
Taylor hit .238/.319/.409 with 19 doubles, six home runs and 27 RBI during the first half of the season but has struggled since returning from the IL, batting .202/.292/.333 in 120 plate appearances over 31 games.
While those numbers are below what is expected of Taylor, the 32-year-old has been swinging the bat much better of late. Since Sept. 9, he has gone 8-for-22 with one double, one home run and two RBI.
Taylor is happy to see positive results and hopes to continue building off them heading into the postseason, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“It was good (to see results). Most of the year, but especially the last month or two since I came back from the IL, has really been kind of a grind for me. It’s tough to come out every day and not have success. It’s something that’s really hard to deal with. You try to just take it one day at a time. This game can really wear you down, especially when you’re struggling. It’s something you have to learn to deal with. Everybody knows you’re going to fail in this game a lot more than you’re going to succeed, so I’ve really been battling with that.
“I’ve been working hard to try to do anything I can to come out of it and help the team. So to finally have a couple good games in a row kind of takes the weight off your back a little bit, which is nice. Just feeling a little more at the plate, which is good. I think that’s the most important thing. Even some of the at-bats I didn’t get hits in or see results, I feel like I was taking strides in the right direction. So just trying to build off that, and hopefully in the next week or two I can really hit my stride at the right time going into October.”
Prior to his recent turnaround, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expressed confidence Taylor would be able to turn his season around. “C.T. is very mechanics-driven,” Roberts said.
“I think that some could argue too much, but you can’t discount how hard he works in trying to right the ship. I do know that he’s had bouts of hot streaks and some cold streaks. I don’t think he likes that.
“My goal, as well as C.T.’s and the hitting guys, is to work through some things mechanically, get him right. I believe that the swing and miss will be curtailed.”
Roberts confident Taylor will cut down on strikeouts
Taylor is striking out a career-worst 35.3% of the time this season, but Roberts hopes that will come down by the end of the year. “I don’t know that answer,” Roberts said when asked if anything is different with Taylor this season.
“I know that he’s had stints where there’s swing and miss in there. He knows that it needs to get cleaned up. Balls that are in the strike zone, you’ve got to move forward. No one knows that more than he does.”
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