Dodgers News: Could Chris Taylor Still be Dealing with Injury Woes?
There's nothing worse than trying to play through an injury. For Dodgers outfielder Chris Taylor, he came back from an ankle injury but has also had lingering pain in his elbow.
Since coming off IL, Taylor has struggled mightily and is currently in the top 10 for strikeouts with fewer than 400 at-bats. In 22 starts, he has struck out at-least once in 20 of them.
There's no doubt the injury that kept him out over a month is connected with his poor play at the plate. Dave Roberts seems to believe this could be a factor, but won't go into much detail while backing up the professionalism displayed from Taylor (quotes via Fabian Ardaya, The Athletic).
“There’s absolutely a chance,” Roberts said of the elbow potentially continuing to cause issues, “but we’re not going to get it from Chris. He will not divulge any semblance of an excuse.”
Taylor's abilities as a pro have only bolstered further reasoning that he has the ability to bounce back. Taylor isn't in unfamiliar territory as he led the league in strikeouts with 178 in 2018.
The only difference is he had 17 homers and 110 OPS+ while this season he has eight home runs and 89 OPS+.
“There’s always been a lot of swing-and-miss in his game,” Roberts said. “But you can kind of reconcile that with some hard contacts and slug. We haven’t seen that.”
If the Dodgers are good at anything, besides winning ball games, is the ability to have players bounce back thanks to the talented roster ahead of them carrying the load. Taylor will look to get back to his old form ahead of the postseason.
