Lost in the shuffle of the Los Angeles Dodgers' 10-4 drubbing at the hands on the San Francisco Giants on Sunday was the strong showing from Chris Taylor. The utilityman turned in a 2-for-3 performance, including a fifth inning homer, and a walk.
Taylor hasn't only been the Dodgers' worst hitter in 2024, he's been one of the league's worst. There are 365 hitters with at least 100 plate appearances thus far. Taylor's wRC+ of 52 ranks 343rd. His average (.164) ranks 357th. His strikeout rate, at 34.1 percent, is the 13th-highest. He's provided very little power to boot, at a paltry .091 ISO.
Virtually nothing has gone right at the plate for Taylor this season. That much is obvious. Less obvious is the reasoning behind it. He was working through some mechanical adjustments early in the year that likely set him back. It is worth noting, though, that he was still making contact and walking at rates similar to his career norms. He's simply been unable to generate any quality contact.
In fact, a HardHit% under 22 represents the worst rate of Taylor's Dodger career. It's certainly been a factor feeding into a meager .242 batting average on balls in play. It would appear, though, that further mechanical adjustments (discussed on Sunday's Dodger broadcast) could be helping him to turn things around.
Sunday's multi-hit game was Taylor's second of the season. Both have come in his last four starts. Each of his two home runs have come in his last six. Going back to mid-June, Taylor has made nine appearances. He's recorded at least one hit in seven of those. The only ones in which he didn't were plate appearances in which he served as a pinch hitter.
That left Taylor with a .278 batting average in June and a .333 on-base percentage. His wRC+ for the month sat at 143. He also cut his K% nearly in half, to just 20.5 percent. The ISO has picked up the pace as well, with a .250 mark for June.
Of course, that's a mere 39 PA sample. But when you have a month with a -12 wRC+ on the ledger, you're going to take the successes regardless of sample size. And it appears that the mechanical changes Taylor is now working through, which reportedly center around swing plane and speed to the ball, are yielding dividends.
Not that we should expect Taylor to start seeing a big jump in playing time as a result. In fact, sustaining this level of involvement seems appropriate as he continues to work his way back from the early-season woes.
If this version of Chris Taylor is anything resembling permanent, though, he provides massive value to the Dodgers. His versatility was already key to his sticking around amid such struggles, having played four different positions thus far in 2024. If he can bring the stick to the equation, he'll be a boon to a lineup that is still a ways off from being healthy.