Michael A. Taylor has been on fire for the Minnesota Twins lately as they are fighting to stay atop of the American League Central Division. For the Twins, they will need to win the division if they want a shot at postseason play and that is something that Taylor knows.
Taylor has been one of the Twins’ best hitters during the last week and a half. On August 24th, Taylor had one of his best performances of the season against the Texas Rangers, going 2-for-3 with two solo home runs as the Twins defeated Texas 7-5. The 32-year-old has provided a lot of production at the bottom of the lineup for the Twins.
His seven-game hitting streak came to an end on Sunday against the Texas Rangers. And his 19 home runs tie a career-best that he set back in 2017 with the Washington Nationals.
In his first year with Minnesota, Taylor has been doing what has been asked of him. The Twins will need Taylor to be healthy throughout the remainder of the season, because he is a player that you don’t want out of the lineup.
The veteran has been an efficient player throughout his career and has postseason experience as well. Oh and let’s not forget he was part of the Nationals World Series team back in 2019.
Taylor has been a lockdown defender in the outfield as well, winning a Gold Glove Award in 2021.
Through 112 games this season at centerfield, Taylor has a .989 fielding percentage with one assist.
And at the plate, he’s hitting .228 through 114 games with 43 RBI. Taylor is not known as a power hitter, but this season he’s displayed some pop in that bat. There’s a strong chance that he will set a new career high in homers, especially with how he’s been hitting as of late.
The Twins are going to need Taylor healthy too. He’s been dealing with a hamstring issue, but it’s nothing too serious.
However, if you’re the Twins, you want to make sure that you’re taking the necessary precautions to make sure that the issue doesn’t get any worse and force Taylor to miss some significant time. Minnesota definitely does not want to go down that right. Taylor has been too valuable to have him sidelined due to injury.
If Minnesota does win the division, this will be Taylor’s fourth appearance in the postseason.
The previous three have all come with the Nationals. His last appearance was back in 2019, when Washington won it all and he put together a solid playoff performance.
He hit .333 through eight games and had two home runs.
With fellow MLBbro Byron Buxton out, Taylor has stepped up time after time this season and has shown why he’s a game changer out there on the field. Just imagine what it would have been like if Buxton and Taylor were both roaming the outfield and doing damage at the plate.
That definitely would have been an opposing team’s nightmare. But for now, Taylor is making sure that he gives opposing teams his best effort on the field.
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