With Washington Nationals top prospect Victor Robles due to come up on Tuesday, the playing time of Michael Taylor is set to take yet another hit.
The Washington Nationals outfield has been crowded ever since Juan Soto earned a promotion in May. But now with Victor Robles set to come up, it appears Michael Taylor is being phased out of the picture.
The toolsy outfielder actually came into the year as the starting centerfielder this season after an impressive 2017. But unfortunately, the combination of his own slumps with the bat, and Soto’s emergence as a dominant force with the bat has left him on the outside looking in.
Manager Davey Martinez addressed the issue of Taylor’s playing time in his pre-game press conference on Monday. He told Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post that he wanted to see Robles play, and acknowledged it would be hard to find time for Taylor.
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Martinez had already been struggling to get Taylor enough time with Soto, Bryce Harper, and Adam Eaton sucking up most of the starts. Now with the team out of contention, it makes more sense to play Robles over Taylor down the stretch, rotating with the previous three names mentioned.
In truth, Taylor likely profiles best in the long-term as a fourth outfielder given his pop, speed, and defense, but shouldn’t be a starter given his batting average woes. Now with Robles up, who seems better in all facets of the game than Taylor, he doesn’t really have a convincing case to start many games.
So far in 2018, he’s hitting just .228 with a 29.8 strikeout percentage, and a .650 OPS. And this is all while he has a .320 BABIP, compared to a .329 career figure, meaning it can’t be attributed to bad luck.
While some will argue that this came from inconsistent playing time, as he was red hot for a time. Between May 21st and July 5th, he hit .339 with an OPS of .879, but when that is propped up by a .429 BABIP, it hardly seemed sustainable.
Perhaps one solution to get Michael Taylor more time in the outfield would be to play Harper at first base a bit. But even then, it’s tough to sit franchise icon Ryan Zimmerman much in that situation. Unfortunately, there’s just no room for Taylor in this team right now, and potentially moving forward if Harper re-signs in the offseason.
Michael Taylor was a fairytale story for the Washington Nationals last season. However, it looks like he’s regressed back to his pre-2017 form and he’s been deservedly left out of the lineup on several occasions.