One of the biggest unsung heroes for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017 was Chris Taylor, who began the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City but quickly became a breakout star and fan favorite after being called up in the middle of April.
Part of the reason Taylor was not on the Opening Day roster was because of his inexperience in playing center field. It gave an edge to Kiké Hernandez, who like Taylor could be moved around the infield, but also comfortably be placed in the outfield.
The irony in that is that for the better part of the second half of the season, Taylor wound up being the Dodgers’ everyday center fielder.
While Taylor still has the ability to play pretty much anywhere on the diamond and will move around when needed, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sees Taylor once again as the team’s center fielder this season.
“Right now, as it stands, we see him as our everyday center fielder,” Roberts said at Dodgers Fan Fest on Saturday.
“Obviously, things happen by way of injury, performance. From now until Opening Day, through the regular season so many things can happen. But to look at our roster and see the versatility potential we have in our guys is huge. But yeah, right now Chris is penciled in to play center field.”
While Taylor has not spoken to his manager yet about where he’ll be playing, he is expecting to show off his versatility once again this season.
“We haven’t talked much about it but I’m expecting to have a similar role where I have the ability to play multiple positions and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just like last year where I played five positions throughout the season,” Taylor said.
If Taylor is locked into center and Yasiel Puig patrols right field, which looks to be the case, then that only leaves one outfield spot Joc Pederson, Matt Kemp, Andrew Toles and Alex Verdugo will likely battle for this spring.
If second baseman Logan Forsythe struggles against right-handed pitching again this season then Taylor could see some increased time at second base to get another left-handed bat into the lineup.
