After 7 Months, Clemson’s Will Taylor is Back on Playing Field
CLEMSON, S.C. — Will Taylor was so excited to play in Clemson’s 9-3 victory over No. 21 Georgia Tech Friday night, he could hardly contain himself.
“He was just amped up. You could just see he was super amped up today when he got to the ballpark,” Clemson head coach Monte Lee said. “The level of intensity with his body language during BP and in the cages. You can tell he is a football player, which I love to see.”
It has been seven months since Taylor played football, baseball, or anything on a ballfield. The last time he played in a game came on October 2, 2021 when he tore his ACL in a home game against Boston College.
“It was very exciting. I have not felt that excited in about seven months,” Taylor said after the game. “It’s good to be back out there and, hopefully, we keep this going.”
Taylor was the Tigers’ designated hitter in the lineup, meaning he did not play in the field. However, that could change today when Clemson hosts the Yellow Jackets in Game 2 of their three-game series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
“My plan is to play him in the field tomorrow. We will probably try to alternate him, as far as play the field, DH, play the field,” Lee said afterward. “We will bounce him back and forth. We want to see how he does. This is not going to be a set in stone thing with Will. We have to see how he feels tomorrow.
“The plan is to try and get him in the field tomorrow. However, we need to see how he feels when he gets to the ballpark. Is he stiff and sore? He was on base a few times. It was a long day, so we just want to make sure he is okay, but we would love to play him in the field tomorrow and see how he does.”
As for Friday, Taylor had to wait another half inning before he could actually swing the bat. Hitting sixth in the lineup, Taylor was in the batter’s box when Max Wagner was thrown out at second to end the first inning while trying to steal third base.
“Honestly, it was great for me because I got to see a good mix of (the pitcher’s pitches) and the bat did not count,” Taylor said. “So, I got to do it the next time and it worked out good.”
It worked out for a base hit. Taylor led off the second inning by hitting the ball through the right side and later moved to second on a passed ball before he was stranded there.
However, Taylor did score later in the game when Johnathan French homered to leftfield in the fifth inning.
Taylor is hoping he will not be sore today, and if he is, it is just minimal at best.
“This past week has been great,” he said. “The soreness has been very little or if much at all. So hopefully, it will be feeling good tonight and in the morning and I’ll be back out there tomorrow.”
First pitch for Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 3 p.m.
