Dodgers News: Despite Power Surge, Chris Taylor isn't Quite Happy with His Results Just Yet
It's been a sort of tale of two seasons for Dodgers utility man Chris Taylor over the first two months of the year. Through most of April, he was awful. He hit .111 over his first 16 games and 45 at-bats. 4 of his 5 hits on the year were home runs. Since April 25th -- or his next 15 games -- he jumped to a much more respectable .286/.340/.592 slash line with 8 of his 14 hits going for extra bases.
Things are trending well but CT3 said recently he still isn't where he wants to be.
“I think everything I’m hitting is in the air right now,” said Taylor. “It’s been better recently, but I’ve been under the ball more than I want to, so when I do hit it, it’s oftentimes a fly ball. I’m working on being more of a line-drive hitter.”
It feels like Taylor is being more of a stickler here because it sounds like it's a good problem to have.
Dave Roberts added his thoughts and the improving Taylor.
“I guess what’s great is that when he does move the ball forward, it goes over the fence, and some of them have been big homers. I think the average will go up, the on-base percentage will go up, and hopefully the slug will remain. But right now, it’s sort of an outlier for me. I can’t understand it.”
Chris finally got his season average over .200 this weekend and looks like he's settled into his role as a lefty masher -- something Trayce Thompson hasn't been able to manage. Taylor is hitting just .200 vs left-handers this season but is posting a .686 slugging percentage against them, fueling his .923 OPS vs southpaws.
He might not ever return to his 2021 All-Star levels, but he's found a way to get into a good enough spot for now.
