The Los Angeles Dodgers recently welcomed back Chris Taylor, who had missed nearly a week’s worth of games due to a lingering neck issue. Though, his return to the lineup was followed by some regression and Taylor again being unavailable for another stretch.
He recently revealed the nagging injury to be akin to playing through a pinched nerve in his neck for quite some time now. Taylor, who is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the season, jumped out to an excellent start this year and turned it into his first career All-Star selection.
The 31-year-old continued swinging a hot bat coming out of the break but has since hit a rough patch, as he’s batting just .104/.154/.188 with one double, one home run and five RBI over 16 games (12 starts) in September.
Many initially attributed the slump to an increased workload as Taylor was regularly being penciled into the lineup while several Dodgers worked their way back from the injured list.
He disputed this theory, however, and does not believe fatigue is to blame for his struggles at the plate, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“No … The best I’ve been was just out of the All-Star break, the start of the second half,” he said. “It’s really just been the last month or so, August and the first week of September. Before that, I felt really good. I don’t think it was anything with playing time. It was just mechanical with my swing. I like playing every day. I don’t think it had anything to do with that. Like I said, I was just working through some stuff with my swing.”
Although he dispelled the notion that fatigue is the cause of his offensive struggles, Taylor did make starts in 29 consecutive games from July 16 through Aug. 17. He stepped into a bigger role as Cody Bellinger, Mookie Betts, AJ Pollock and Corey Seager all sustained injuries during that span.
Taylor has appeared in 142 games this season entering play Tuesday, which is the second-most of his career (155 in 2018). He also has tied for his second-most plate appearances at 568 and could surpass a personal-best of 604 that was set during the 2018 season.
Taylor on the mend
Coming off another week in which he was limited by neck trouble, Taylor said he’s close to feeling fully recovered.
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