Taylor closes in on a decade with Brewers
Having signed as a 16-year-old in 2010, shortstop Orlando Arcia holds the title of longest-tenured player in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
After Arcia, it's outfielder Tyrone Taylor and left-hander Brent Suter — both of whom are entering a decade in the blue and gold. They're also the lone remaining members of the class still playing for the team that drafted them all the way back in 2012.
"It's crazy," Taylor said Monday. "I was reflecting on that a little bit ago and I was thinking how crazy that was, how time flies to still be here. It has been a lot of ups and downs. I've had some injuries, I've had some good seasons, some bad ones.
"All in all, I'm just thankful for the journey I've been on and thankful that I've learned to enjoy the journey itself, and be able to be here right now."
Taylor was a second-round pick that year, an athletic, "toolsy" centerfielder from Torrance, California, for whom expectations were high. But it was the long-shot Suter, a 31st-round pick out of Harvard, who rose quickly through the minor leagues and debuted with the Brewers in August 2016. Suter has been one of the team's most reliable contributors ever since.
Taylor's ascension wasn't nearly as linear. He advanced to Class AA Biloxi by 2015, spending two-plus seasons there (a hamstring injury cost him almost all of 2017) before turning in a career season at Class AAA Colorado Springs in 2018.
Taylor repeated the Class AAA level — this time at San Antonio — in 2019 and again was solid with a .259/14/59 line in 92 games despite playing through injuries to both of his wrists.
He went home afterward and, in a well-chronicled story, was close to accepting an offseason job with FedEx — no, minor-leaguers aren't well-paid beyond their initial signing bonuses — before being unexpectedly summoned to the majors in September as the Brewers made a push for their second straight playoff berth.
It was quite the payoff for Taylor, who kept persevering after considering turning the page on his baseball career at various times.
"Yeah, for sure, multiple times I've gotten to that point," he said. "Whether it was because of baseball or personal life things that were happening at the time, I'm sure most of us have gone through that. It's just part of it, and you learn how to overcome it and keep on rolling.
"Keep on showing up."
Taylor had surgery on his left wrist last February and was held out of spring training as he recovered. He participated in summer camp when the Brewers reconvened in July but didn't make the cut for the opening-day roster and was sent to the team's alternate training site in Appleton.
Rather than sulk, Taylor brought a positive attitude to the ballpark each day — not an easy thing to do with no guarantee he'd return to the majors. But just being able to play any kind of organized baseball in a pandemic season in which the minor leagues were shut down was motivation enough for Taylor.
"I showed up there and tried to do something to get better every day," he said. "I didn't really think about that at all. I felt you had a choice – you could either go there and have a bad attitude about it and not do anything and complain, or you go there and get better. "That's what we all did." Taylor was rewarded for his persistence with another September call-up, and he made an impact by hitting .237 with a pair of homers and six runs batted
Brewers starting pitcher Corbin Burnes throws against the Diamondbacks in the first inning of their spring training game in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Monday. The Brewers won, 7-1.
in over 22 games while making starts at all three outfield positions.
Homering in an intrasquad scrimmage game Saturday and in the Brewers' Cactus League opener on Sunday wasn't a bad way to get game action started for Taylor this spring.
But with a minor-league option potentially working against him and former first-round picks Billy McKinney and Derek Fisher also vying for spots as a reserve outfielder, Taylor knows he's going to need to continue performing.
"I just control what I can control," he said. "I go out there every day and try to be the best version of myself. My attitude on any given day is to go out there and try to get better. I let my family worry about (the roster numbers game) for me, my mom and my dad.
"That's one of the things I learned about being here for so long. They're going to do what they're going to do. You control what you can control."
Manager Craig Counsell is a big fan of 'grinders' who make the most of the talent they have to reach the majors, and Taylor certainly fits that bill almost 10 years after joining the organization.
"It's a good story," Counsell said. "Ultimately, it's on the player to be the one who gets himself up every day and does the work and seeks out ways to improve. I think that's what Tyrone did.
"It's clear he had a great offseason. He worked very hard. He's in great shape. I'm not going to drop the “best shape of his life” on him, but he's definitely stronger than he's ever been. It's pretty visible."
Practical experience is best
Counsell was pleased that in Keston Hiura's very first game playing first base Sunday against the White Sox, he experienced several situations that he handled deftly. Hiura is making the move from second base to first base this spring after never playing the position previously.
“For a six-inning game, he couldn't have had a better first day for me,” Counsell said. “I thought he was tested in numerous ways. He had a number of plays that were like ‘OK, that's the first time that play happened and now I got it out of the way.' And that's great. He has already experienced those plays for the first time.
“For example, there was a ground ball and he was playing well off the line. A chopper hit to the left of the second baseman, and he took a step to the ball, then had to bust back to the base. That's probably one of the harder plays for a new first baseman because they want to go for every ball. That was his instinct, but yet he got back to the bag.
“He had to hold runners on multiple times. There were a couple of tricky plays, so it was a really good day as far as experiencing a lot of different things.”
Hiura is getting plenty of instruction at first base during workouts with coaches Pat Murphy and Jason Lane as well as Class A Wisconsin manager Matt Erickson. As Counsell quipped, “It takes a village.”
But nothing beats the practical experience of actually playing the position in a game, so Hiura is slated to see plenty of action in Cactus League Games.
“I just think the experiences are the best way to gauge his progress, just getting experiences and a lot of plays,” Counsell said. “I want them in games, not just practice. So, we had a couple (Sunday) that he experienced and hopefully we'll check how he experiences them again. He reacted to things very well.
“What I would be fearful of is you don't get the experience in games sometimes of those plays that challenge you. A day that's challenging, even with mistakes, is the best day. He got challenged (Sunday) -- not as much physically but more how you have to react. So, those are the best teachers still.”
Brewers 7, Diamondbacks 1
Manny Piña hit a two-run homer in the first inning and seven pitchers combined to limit Arizona to just four hits as Milwaukee ran its Cactus League record to 2-0 in a 7 1/2-inning game at Salt River Fields.
Corbin Burnes started and struck out two in his one-inning stint. He was followed by Freddy Peralta, who allowed a hit and struck out three in his one inning of work.
The Diamondbacks scored their lone run in the third, collecting three hits off Jordan Zimmermann, who nevertheless was credited with the hold.
"I thought Jordan did fine," Counsell said. "He threw a bunch of two-seam fastballs today. That's something he's experimenting with a little bit more. This is the first outing and we're just trying to establish some foundation moving forward."
Garrett Mitchell, the Brewers' firstround pick last June, collected his first professional hit — a single — in his lone at-bat in the seventh.
"I think it was a fun day for him. These are fun days," said Counsell. "This was his first major-league spring training game, first day playing in front of fans with a Brewers uniform on."
Counsell also announced that Josh Lindblom will start Tuesday in place of Brandon Woodruff, who has a stiff back.
"It's minor," Counsell said. "We built space into Woody's schedule. In fact, he came into camp ahead of camp, actually. You try to build in space in case things like this happen."