Taylor a new October hero
CHICAGO — The Dodgers sure get a kick out of changing a mediocre player’s swing and discovering hitting gold.
One year ago at this time Chris Taylor was working with Dodgers hitting consultant Robert Van Scoyoc on adding a leg kick.
Justin Tuner isn’t the only Dodger that turned around his career with such a move.
Taylor started this season at Triple-A, but like Turner he has become an October savior. This is an L.A. story of baseball resurgence, another story that makes the Dodgers such a fascinating team.
Taylor moved from center field to shortstop Tuesday night and delivered a monstrous solo home run to break a 1-1 tie in the third and a runscoring triple in the fifth as the Dodgers behind Yu Darvish put the defending world champs on life support, whipping the Cubs 6-1 at Wrigley Field to take a 3-0 lead in the NLCS.
The Dodgers have yet to lose a postseason game (6-0) this October and will go to the World Series for the first time since 1988 with a win Wednesday. The Cubs came back from a 3-1 deficit last year against the Indians in the World Series but a four-game sweep against the Mighty Dodgers is asking a bit too much.
So one more Dodgers win gets them to the promised land. Imagine if the Yankees can continue their amazing comeback against the Astros — a Dodgers-Yankees World Series would be something to see.
No one saw the year that Aaron Judge is having coming and no one could envision what Taylor has accomplished this season for the Dodgers.
The tall tales of October continue.
Taylor, 27, was one of those under-the-radar moves the Dodgers specialize in, trading pitcher Zach Lee to the Mariners in midJune of 2016. He was a fifth-round pick for the Mariners in the 2012 draft. In parts of three seasons and 256 plate appearances with the Mariners, the slight (6-2, 195) Taylor never hit a home run.
This past season he hit 21. In
the NLCS he already has hit two home runs.
No one could have predicted any of this.
When Corey Seager went down at shortstop the Dodgers were in a world of hurt but look where they are now on the brink of finally going back to the World Series. The Cubs appeared to have the infield advantage. Not so once the games started.
The first two games Charlie Culberson was at short and Taylor was in center. The Dodgers are a versatile team and Taylor fits right in with that game plan. It’s important to have players who can make adjustments.
Taylor became the first player in postseason history to hit a home run as a center fielder and a shortstop.
The Dodgers have developed players who fit the flexible mold of what they are looking for and Taylor said he followed the mold of Turner to really develop his leg kick. Turner took that big swing and drove a three-run walk-off home run to win Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, a blast to center field.
Taylor unloaded in much the same way Tuesday night, driving a Kyle Hendricks’ fastball deep into center, a long, long way over the ivy, a 444-foot shot, the longest home run of the postseason according to Statcast. His triple in the fifth was equally impressive, lining the pitch into the leftfield corner and catching the Cubs sleeping as he raced into third as Joc Pederson scored.
Part of his new hitting approach is getting the ball in the air and that has paid huge dividends. Master the leg kick and good things happen.
Andre Ethier led off the second with a solo home run, matching Kyle Schwarber’s first-inning blast. Then when Taylor hit his moonshot to center in the third, you could feel the tension in the air as 41,871 fans suddenly remembered what Cub Life was like from 1909 to 2015. Wrigley has the same feel as when the Mets swept the Cubs out of the NLCS in 2015.
Chris Taylor and the Dodgers are ready for the next big leg kick.