Chris Taylor was disappointed with his results from the 2022 season and therefore wasted little time in getting back to work with Los Angeles Dodgers hitting coaches on rectifying his swing.
Taylor additionally was among the several Dodgers who spent time at the Driveline Baseball facility as part of his quest to improve for this year.
“It’s some valuable information,” Taylor said. “If you’re not taking advantage of all the resources given to you, what are you really doing? I think it’s important to be openminded. Some of the new stuff we’re adopting into the game is obviously working and helping a lot of players. I think it would be very stubborn to not give it a shot.”
Although Taylor has not found consistent success in Spring Training, he believes recent progress has been made, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times:
“I feel like I’m close,” Taylor said. “I feel like I’ve kind of figured some stuff out the last two days, and I feel like I’m trending upwards.”
After going hitless in seven consecutive Cactus League games, Taylor went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI against the Chicago White Sox this past Saturday. He was not in the Dodgers lineup for their ensuing game against the Oakland Athletics.
Even with getting his barrel on a pitch, Taylor still had two strikeouts to accompany the homer, marking a fourth consecutive game with that many. Overall this spring, he’s struck out 16 times in 42 plate appearances.
Last season Taylor had the second-highest strikeout rate (35.4%) of any player with at least 400 plate appearances. Some of that was attributed to his swing getting out of order because of time missed due to a fractured left foot and recurring neck injury.
Chris Taylor remains work in progress
When recently discussing his swing, Taylor noted his focus was primarily on improving its efficiency rather than bat speed.
“When I feel good, I can cover the four-seam fastball and I can hit that pitch to right field, and then that kind of opens everything else up for me,” Taylor added.
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