Why Mike Tauchman Knows He's Capable of Playing 'At a High Level' in 2021

TAMPA — For close to two months during the 2019 regular season, Mike Tauchman was one of the hottest hitters in all of Major League Baseball.

The outfielder hit .387 (43-for-111) with an OPS of 1.164 in a span of 34 games from the beginning of July through the end of August. It took his overall batting average on the season from .208 to .300 flat.

So, if Tauchman broke out in the summer of 2019, why has one of the biggest storylines of this spring been whether or not the outfielder will make this club's Opening Day roster?

A few weeks after Tauchman's scalding stretch at the plate two years ago, his season abruptly came to an end due to a left calf strain. Since then, Tauchman simply hasn't been the same. 

He roared out of the gates to start last season's coronavirus-shortened campaign, but eventually disappeared down the stretch. He finished the year, playing in a total of 43 games, hitting .242 with zero home runs and more strikeouts (26) than base knocks (23). 

Looking back this spring, as he battles to retake a contributing role on this club's offense, Tauchman recalled a period where he didn't feel like himself between the lines in 2020. 

An aggravation to an old injury in his right shoulder led to the development of what Tauchman called "bad swing path patterns." The discomfort was no excuse—as he prefaced in retrospect the fact that he felt healthy enough to play—but being banged up throughout the season did play a role in Tauchman's dip in production.

"It was difficult for me to take the swings that I wanted to take," Tauchman said on Wednesday.

That explains why Tauchman was unable to catch up to velocity all season long. His average against the fastball dipped 97 percentage points (from .286 in 2019 to .189 the following year), per Statcast.

"If there's any sort of ride, which everybody has now, or velocity behind it, it's going to be very difficult to make contact out front, which is where hard contact happens," Tauchman explained. "So what you're going to see is a lot of flared balls to the opposite field and snap hook ground balls to the pull side, which is not a recipe for success for a left-handed hitter playing half his games at Yankee Stadium."

After a disappointing season, not fulfilling his own standards of performance, Tauchman got to work. 

The first order of business was flattening his swing, tightening the path to the baseball to increase the likelihood of solid contact. That included consistent communication with New York's hitting coaches—Marcus Thames and P.J. Pilittere—throughout the offseason, watching film and reinforcing good habits with certain drills in the cage. 

Coinciding with the health of his front shoulder, Tauchman strove to finish his swing through the middle of the field and the back of the cage, ensuring his front side doesn't leak out like it did last year. 

As soon as Tauchman reported to camp last month, those improvements were on full display. The outfielder launched a booming home run off Yankees ace Gerrit Cole in live batting practice. Facing one of the best pitchers on the planet at blowing fastballs by opposing hitters, Tauchman didn't just catch up to it. He did damage.

Asked later that afternoon, Yankees manager Aaron Boone acknowledged Tauchman wasn't himself in 2020, but is "capable of having an impact" with this club going forward.

"Tauch's another guy that came in and I think was a little bit banged up last year and I think he comes in really healthy and strong and his body's in a good place," Boone said. "I think he very much in '19 proved what he's capable of."

That home run off Cole was exactly one month ago on Thursday and it was just a taste of what Tauchman would show this spring at the plate. The versatile outfielder is hitting .269/.345/.615 through 10 games (7-for-26) with three home runs. 

Further, Tauchman is getting hot at the right time. In his last five games, the outfielder is hitting .357 (5-for-14) including a perfect day at the plate in Lakeland on Tuesday against the Tigers. Facing all left-handed pitching, Tauchman ripped a leadoff home run and added a sharp single to the opposite field along with two walks.

Those results are certainly nice to see, especially when Tauchman is competing for playing time, but the outfielder will be the first one to tell you that stats don't matter at this time of the year. Spring training is all about getting your work in and preparing—physically and mentally—for when the games really start to count in the regular season.

"I think it's pretty much widely agreed upon that the actual results of spring don't have that big of a bearing on the success of your season," Tauchman said. "In my six major league spring trainings now, the only other time I hit above .300, I started out the regular season [1-for-29]."

It just so happens that Tauchman is really happy, across the board, with where he's at this spring. Playing high-level defense at all three positions in the outfield, taking extra bases with his speed and putting together quality at-bats. Most importantly, he feels healthy, turning a corner from last year's lingering aches and pains.

That applies to his swing as well.

"I'm in a good spot right now," Tauchman said. "I also have a better understanding of things to look at when evaluating my swing to see if I'm in a spot that I want to be in ... I feel prepared, I feel ready to hit early in the count and I feel as though it doesn't require as much effort for me as it did last year to make solid contact on velocity."

Tauchman has said it before this spring and he reiterated the sentiment on Wednesday. This outfielder isn't letting the competition for a roster spot make him go "crazy." It's easier said than done, but Tauchman is focused on what he can control: getting his work in, improving every day and playing baseball. 

"I'm focused on today and that's really as far in the future as I'm looking," Tauchman said. "I feel strongly that I'm in a lot better position to have success this year. Whatever anybody else decides is really not up to me. Like I said, I feel like I'm in a good spot right now and I'm excited with where my swings at. I feel good, I feel healthy and I'm very excited to wrap up this week of spring and get into the regular season."

MORE: 

• Yankees Get Some Good News on Justin Wilson's Left Shoulder Injury
• One Reason Why Jay Bruce Might Not Make the Yankees' Opening Day Roster
• Aaron Judge Isn't Concerned One Bit About His Power Entering the Regular Season

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