VIERA, Fla. — Michael A. Taylor walked away from the batting cage shaking his head and smiling, a blend of frustration and satisfaction as the ball he scorched down the left-field line appeared as if it wasn’t ever going to come back down. With a short, compact swing, he turned on Ali Modami’s inside pitch and hooked it sharply around the foul pole, well beyond the 340-foot marking on the wall.
“I couldn’t get one all day,” Taylor said.
Modami, the Washington Nationals’ left-handed batting practice pitcher, was bringing it before the team’s game against the Miami Marlins at Space Coast Stadium.