GLENDALE, Ariz. – Chris Taylor has plenty to worry about. Wondering where his at-bats are going to come from is not one.
“I try not to,” the Dodgers’ veteran utilityman said. “Every year that happens. I think I’ve learned to focus on myself. I know if I’m right and I’m playing the way I’m capable of, they’ll find at-bats for me. So I try to focus on myself and if I do and I play the way I’m capable of, I won’t have to worry about it.
“It’s really about focusing on what you can control. I think I learned that pretty early on. It really doesn’t do any good to try and play manager.”
Taylor has played just about everywhere else for the Dodgers – second, third, shortstop and all three outfield positions – over his eight seasons with the team. This year, though, he finds himself teammates again with Kiké Hernandez, both looking for those same super-utility at-bats.
“I don’t think the role they planned for me to have going into spring training has ever ended up being what it is at the end of the year,” Taylor said philosophically. “It’s always adjusting.”
The same can be said for his swing. That he worries about.
Taylor is honest. It is not his natural swing. It’s one he built in order to get to the big leagues. And it requires constant work.
“The best way I can describe it is – and I’ve used this term a lot, it’s kind of like a seesaw,” Taylor said. “I used to always try to hit ground balls, low line drives my whole career. I was kind of on this end of the seesaw (he lifts his right hand higher than his left). Then I put a lot of emphasis on hitting the ball in the air. So I got to here (he holds his hands relatively level).
Over the last couple seasons, though, “I think the seesaw tipped in the other direction” and he developed a swing with too much uppercut, too much emphasis on lifting the ball. The result was a .228 average over the past two seasons with 285 strikeouts. Trying too hard to lift the ball, he wound up with his two lowest slugging-percentage seasons since his breakthrough year in 2017.
“You’re constantly going back and forth trying to get to level,” said Taylor who signed a four-year, $60 million contract extension with the Dodgers following his All-Star season in 2021. “I knew which end of the seesaw I was on. But it was hard to get back to this (level). It’s all new thoughts and feels to get back to where you want to get to (coming from the other direction). It’s kind of like I was a completely different player. So the thoughts I had that got me to where I was in 2017 are not going to work for me to get there now.
“It’s a lot of work. It is. And a lot of frustration.”
Taylor finds it easier to do a lot of that work during the offseason, making his biggest swing changes and adjustments away from the day-to-day competition in season. This winter, the focus was on creating a flatter bat path that will produce more line drives and more frequent contact.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has been impressed with the results so far this spring.
“I would say that his swing for me is in as good a place as it’s been in four years, to be quite honest,” Roberts said.
“It’s just a lot more flat plane swing, which allows for more contact, in my opinion. So I think he’s worked through some things and he’s in a good spot right now.”
That would fit with Taylor’s offseason intent.
“There’s a lot to it. But I think my path is better,” he said. “I worked really hard on basically creating a flatter bat path this offseason. I feel like I’ve even over-adjusted a little bit where I’ve been over fastballs. I can’t even remember the last time I was doing that. I feel like when I’m on time I’m hitting more line drives right now.”
Taylor acknowledges that injuries might have played a part in tipping the seesaw. He had surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow following the 2021 season. He fouled a ball off his left and suffered a fracture in 2022. This offseason, he received platelet-rich plasma injections in his right knee after a bone bruise and wear and tear in the joint plagued him in 2023.
“Honestly, some of that plays into it,” he admitted. “I’ve been working with our strength coaches and training staff. I’m very tight, naturally. I’m probably one of the tightest guys on the team so I have to get a lot of work done with the trainers and in the weight room to work on my mobility and making sure my body moves the way I want it to. That’s part of the reason my swing is kind of unorthodox with some of my moves and that reverse tip (dropping the bat head behind his shoulder before triggering his swing). That’s kind of funky. But I’m very tense and my back elbow wants to tighten up so this is kind of to keep it loose. I think the reverse tip was bigger in 2017. It got tighter and tighter the last few years. It’s bigger again.”
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DEPTH TRADE
The Dodgers acquired utility infielder Andre Lipcius from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for cash considerations on Monday. Lipcius, 25, was designated for assignment by the Tigers last week.
A third-round pick out of the University of Tennessee in 2019, Lipcius made his big-league debut last season and hit .286 in 13 games with the Tigers. He has played all four infield positions plus the corner outfield spots during his minor-league career and even pitched in the Cape Cod League.
In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Lipcius, the Dodgers moved Clayton Kershaw to the 60-day Injured List. Kershaw is recovering from shoulder surgery last November and is not expected to return until July or August.