Dodgers: Chris Taylor Talks About ‘Tough Year’ Filled with Injuries and Inconsistency
Dodgers utilityman Chris Taylor had an awful season in 2022, posting an 86 OPS+ after averaging a 113 over his previous five seasons. He also struck out 160 times in just 454 plate appearances, a 35.2% K rate that was significantly higher than the 27.6% he averaged in the five years since his famous swing change turned him into a good hitter.
Some of it was related to injury; Taylor missed most of July with a fractured foot, and he missed the last week of the season with a recurring neck issue. He also had arm surgery last offseason, which might have impacted his swing.
Whatever the reasons, Taylor is working hard to get back to where he was, as he recently said on AM 570.
“It was a tough year for me, individually. I mean, the injuries are, it’s nothing new. I think the injuries is something I’ve dealt with every year. It’s just part of playing the game.
“But, yeah, for me, it was more just, my swing never really felt right all season. My mechanics were kind of out of whack and I was constantly searching to try to find it. Which is, if you talk to any baseball player, they know it is not a good feeling. And it was a grind of a year for me.
“I’ve been working a lot with our hitting coaches, literally a week after the season ended I started hitting just because I wanted to get a jumpstart on it, for my own peace of mind really. And so then, working with our head hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc a lot and I feel good where I’m at now with my swing and I’m optimistic that next year will be a better year for me.”
We also saw Taylor show up in Mookie Betts’ video of his time at Driveline, so CT3 is obviously putting in a lot of work this offseason. Mechanics can be a hard thing to fix in real time while the season’s happening, so hopefully a full, healthy offseason of hard work will pay off the Taylor and the Dodgers.
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