Michael A. Taylor Had the Worst Game Ever, Then He Redeemed Himself

it's difficult to judge a player on a singular performance especially in baseball in one game you can throw the first to no hitter of your career and in the very next start you throw your worst start of the season this is exactly the case for wade miley on may 7th 2021 wade miley threw a no-hitter the first of his career but in his very next start on may 14th he gave up eight runs in what was his worst start of the season the point is that baseball is a game of highs and lows and a player that knows this all too well is michael a taylor today we are going to be looking at what is possibly the worst individual performance in modern baseball history and follow his path towards redemption taylor's career began in the 2009 draft he actually wasn't a hyped up prospect heading into the draft as the 18 year old shortstop was drafted in the sixth round by the washington nationals after a subpar first pro season in 2010 taylor was told he would be moving from shortstop to center field after a few more seasons in the minor leagues taylor made his debut in the second half of the 2014 season entering the 2015 season as a top 50 prospect and billed as the national center fielder of the future taylor was the national starting center fielder on opening day this nationals team was seen by many as the nl east favorites unfortunately this season was a disaster for the nationals as for taylor while his offensive production wasn't great he was a solid defender he had two notable highlights in 2015 on august 20th against the rockies taylor hit a game-tying two-run home run a home run that was tracked at 492 feet which made this the second longest home run of 2015. the second highlight was taylor hitting an inside the park grand slam as the ball went under uns cespedes glove while this was counted as a bases clearing single i think it's more fun to call it an inside the park grand slam although in a cruel twist of fate almost the exact same thing happened to taylor a few weeks later however this would be scored as an inside the park grand slam for another rookie outfielder unfortunately this wouldn't be the last time taylor would have an error of this magnitude but we'll get to that later after a disappointing 2015 season for the nationals they were out for revenge in 2016. while the team itself was great taylor wasn't much better as he spent much of the season in triple-a however his most notable performance of the year came on june 22nd 2016. taylor entered this game only a few days removed from his best performance of the year his first career multi-home run game if only he could see what would happen only a few days later june 22nd nationals vs dodgers taylor is in the lead-off spot in his first at-bat he struck out on a high fastball on only four pitches in the top of the second after a couple rbi doubles put the nationals on top the rally ended after another four pitch swinging strikeout by taylor after a game-tying home run by corey seeger went over the glove of taylor and one played appearance after adrian gonzalez made this catch taylor would strike out swinging again this time on six pitches yeah it was just one of those days well his day would get worse as in the seventh inning with runners in scoring position taylor would strike out swinging on three pitches then in the top of the ninth with the ability to extend the nationals lead for closer sean kelly taylor would strike out swinging on five pitches five strikeouts all of them were swinging strikeouts in 2016 only eight players including taylor struck out five times in a game out of these eight players only four of them didn't reach base however of these four players taylor was the only player to be involved in a game where his team lost and if you don't know what happens next just watch ground ball right by the diving espinosa and the ball goes through taylor's legs kweig is on his way the relay is double clutch can you believe it so remember when i said baseball is a game of highs and lows well taylor's performance in this game is among the lowest of lows this was no doubt the worst performance of taylor's career unfortunately this was only three days after his best performance in 2016. after this game many placed this performance as one of the worst in baseball history this is a difficult claim to prove but it's hard to disagree five swinging strikeouts and your error directly led to your team losing in walk-off fashion that's a terrible day in the big leagues so this means everything goes up from here right well yes but not right away after a disappointing sophomore season taylor began the 2017 season as a backup outfielder however a season-ending injury to adam eaton in late april thrusted taylor back into the starting lineup this would end up being taylor's best season of his career as his ops and ops plus reached career highs but it wasn't only the stats it was the plays he made along the way exactly two years after taylor's inside the park grand slam taylor did the exact same thing he hit a line drive to the center fielder who misplayed the ball allowing taylor to clear the bases and score the difference is that unlike the single in 2015 this was scored as a grand slam taylor's performance in this game was actually the complete opposite of what happened against the dodgers in the seventh inning after rhys hoskins put the phillies in striking distance taylor threw out nick williams at home and along with the grand slam taylor hit three more hits including a triple that gave the nationals an extra run of insurance this was important as the philly scored three times in the top of the ninth but sean doolittle would strike out every batter he faced to give the nationals the win so this was taylor's redemption right what more could he do well this grand slam wasn't even the most notable grand slam taylor hit in 2017. let's fast forward to the nlds specifically game 4 nationals versus cubs the cubs are one win away from reaching the nlcs while the nationals who haven't been in the nlcs since the franchise was in montreal in 1981 were fighting to stay alive on the back of a 12 strikeout performance by steven strasberg the nationals were winning by one run in the eighth that was until michael a taylor stepped up to the plate the kick in the pitch swinging a high fly ball right center field going back way back at the wall elaine said it's gone the nationals would go on to win this game five to nothing unfortunately in game five despite another great performance by taylor that included a home run the nationals would lose the series a series where it seemed like taylor was the only nationals hitter who was actually able to hit taylor has more than redeemed himself but he wasn't done there let's skip the 2018 season and go straight to the 2019 nlds game seven dodgers vs nationals we're back where it all started taylor didn't really do much offensively in this game as he only hit a single in the fifth and it didn't lead to anything so why are we here well after the dodgers led most of the game the nationals were able to tie the game in the 8th with back-to-back home runs then in the top of the 10th howie kendrick hit the second biggest home run of his life with a grand slam that put the nationals on top by four but there's still a half inning to go nationals closer sean doolittle is given the task of shutting down the dodgers after a strikeout by aj pollock and a ground out by max munsey the nationals were one out away from their first nlcs since moving to dc behind second and that is going to be caught by michael a taylor it has all come full circle four years prior taylor's error in center field ensured a dodger win this diving catch ensured a dodger loss redemption has been achieved fun fact if you didn't notice howie kendrick is involved in both of these scenarios although one of these hits is a bit more significant than the other the nationals would head to the world series where not only howie kendrick solidified his status as a nationals legend in game two michael taylor in his only world series played appearance hit a first pitch home run which is just the cherry on top taylor's final season with the nationals came in 2020 after the season he signed a one-year deal with the royals to be their starting center fielder in 2021 he is performing how you'd expect as he's just filling a role for a rebuilding team he may be far from the high points of his career but you have to admit that taylor has had quite the eventful career he's had a career arc that few come close to so if you ever think about the 2019 nationals run to the world series don't just think about the improbable odds or kendrick's heroics you have to recognize michael a taylor's four-year journey towards redemption baseball is a game of highs and lows and players and fans learn to live with this fact however not everyone is able to redeem themselves in such a poetic way or even at all it's unlikely taylor ever reaches the highs of his 2019 season but that's not important what matters is that these moments exist taylor's redemption story happened and that's what will live on throughout baseball history i hope you guys enjoyed the video leave a like if you did and subscribe for more content just like this thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: SportStorm

Views: 71,230

Keywords: michael a taylor, michael taylor nationals, michael taylor error, michael taylor worst game ever, worst game ever, baseball, mlb, mlb worst game ever, baseball redemption, sports redemption, redemption story, mlb comeback, washington nationals, nationals world series, washington nationals world series, howie kendrick nationals, howie kendrick 2019, michael taylor 2019, washington nationals 2019, michael taylor grand slam, michael taylor inside the park, sportstorm

Id: rsGmhfK2YYE

Length: 10min 54sec (654 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 13 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/ItchyConstruction2]

Michael A Tater. What a legend.

[u/gpgpg]

This guy has a few great Nats videos including The Nationals 2014 Walk-Off Streak, Juan Soto Won't Be the 2020 NL MVP, but His 2020 Performance Deserves More Attention, and The .1% Story - How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series.

It's great youtube content in general for baseball fans

[u/NickInTheValley]

BFA.

[u/Homeless_Pie]

Now that’s good character development

[u/C1963DK]

One of my all time favorite Nationals...

[u/KitKat2theMax]

I loved having him guarding the wall. Playoff Mikey T. was something to see.

[u/slagnanz]

Oh hey the game that inspired /r/aaahhhtionals

[u/[deleted]]

I’ve only been to about 10 major league games and one of them was that game.