Davey Martinez will tell anyone who asks how much he thinks of outfielder Michael A. Taylor as a player, and especially as a defender.
“I’m a big Michael Taylor fan, I am,” Martinez told reporters in December.
“His defense is the best, by far, in baseball. Nobody plays center field like him, so if we can get him to put the ball in play, he’s going to help us out a lot.”
Hitting coach Kevin Long said that he and Taylor started to work to change the 27-year-old’s swing late last season, when the outfielder wasn’t getting a lot of at bats down the stretch in a disappointing campaign at the plate (.