Michael Taylor Gets The Call (UPDATED)
Like his teammate Taylor Hill, his stay on the big Nats may be brief, but for today Michael Taylor will be a major-leaguer as multiple outlets are reporting that the 23-y.o. outfielder will join the big club in Atlanta.
Taylor will be replacing either Jayson Werth or Steve Souza, who was called up last week to replace outmak..er, fielder Nate McLouth, as both rightfielders are battling injuries
Taylor is in the midst of a breakout season, which began in Harrisburg where he batted .313/.396/.539 with 22HR and 34SB in 98 games, which earned him a trip to the Eastern League All-Star game and the 2014 Futures game.
He’s barely skipped a beat in Syracuse going 5-for-13 with three doubles and a triple with two RBI, albeit in four games.
Corresponding moves have obviously not yet been made, and in a season with more movement than after a bad buffet, it’s pointless to guess. As always, if/when those moves are made today, this space will be updated.
UPDATE: Steven Souza is going to the DL. Thus far, there’s just one corresponding move: UT Jose Lozada has been reassigned from Harrisburg. The P-Nats, who were rained out for the entire weekend, and the Senators both have Monday off — so it’s unlikely that any more moves will be made (or announced) until Tuesday.
Souza gets sent to the DL. Hope Taylor makes things difficult for the front office when Souza’s ready to come back.
I think Taylor already has his name penciled onto one of Rizzo’s future starting lineups. Its Souza that they need to look at as he has become a bit of an unexpected wildcard. It seems like the plan is to start evaluating both this season especially after the rosters expand. They also need to do some trimming of that 40-man as prospects like AJ Cole are rule 5 eligible.
This site has its batman cave of fans
But SS has really blossomed
Talk about play with what you have – lozada.
Potomac cannot afford to lose depth just
To accommodate Harrisburg playing out the
String
If Caleb Clay can reach the majors. So will Ryan
Tatusko
A name for Hagerstown next spring. Raudy Ready.
More movement than after a bad buffet!
Lmao. Especially a KFC one !!
I hope he gets an actual chance to play, rather than trotting Frandsen and Hairston out there every day, while Taylor gets an occasional pinch run.
Fransden and Hairston will not be playing everyday (they have less than 5 collective starts since the A-S Break). Span, Harper and Werth will play most everyday. If any of those guys get nicked or need a rest, Taylor will likely get his chance.
They could have easily called up one or both of Kobernus and Perez for this role? Plus? There still is Tyler Moore who has major league experience as a PH and has had a reasonable number of plate appearances this season.
So, why Taylor instead of them? Especially since player development will want him to play every day? Reminds me a bit of the Desmond versus Guzman deal and then the Lombo as the UTL deal with Davey. Matt has to agree to find enough starts for Taylor before bringing him up … but he is far and away more rigid about playing veterans than was Davey. It’ll be interesting to see how that pans out. It sure seemed like Rizzo had recalled Souza and put McLouth on the DL without telling Williams so … I don’t know makes me wonder?
I think, from a developmental standpoint, that the thinking may be no more complicated than they think that Taylor is better than Perez, and they want the better player available to help them fight for the NL East title. With the countervaling consideration that, while playing every day is better for player development in a macro sense, Taylor has been a regular for the last 4+ months, playing in 102 games, up until now – so missing the last 2-3 weeks of the season is not a big deal.
Certainly not a big enough deal to justify weakening the major league club by bringing up a player that they do not think will be as helpful, even in part time duty, until Souza and/or McLouth is ready to come off the DL.
Would both Souza and Taylor go to the Arizona Fall league then? Or would they stick with them (both right handed bats) and eschew McLouth (their only left-handed bat on the bench) since there is some possibility that they can produce offensively at the major league level and although McLouth produced sparkling defense perhaps on par with Span’s, his offense wasn’t what they expected given his previous season in Baltimore?