The Washington Nationals’ former sixth-round pick entered his rookie season in 2015 ranked by Baseball America as the 32nd best prospect in baseball. He has since developed a defensive prowess in center field matched by few across the league, but his bat has remained inconsistent — as evidenced by his yearly OPS: .640, .654, .806, .644.
Barry Svrluga is a sports columnist for The Washington Post who appeared on the FanGraphs podcast Effectively Wild on Saturday to preview the Nationals’ upcoming season. When asked about which version of Taylor best reflected who he really is, Svrluga said he believed the outfielder’s strong 2017 campaign was an outlier.