Gavin Lux’s unfortunate injuries, which will prevent him from playing all of the 2023 season, have left the Dodgers in need of Taylor’s revival in order to secure their 10th NL West title in 11 years.
“The health is there,” said Dodgers skipper, Dave Roberts. “So now it’s just to bet on the player, the person. We feel good about C.T, obviously.”
After signing a four-year, $60 million contract following the 2021 season, Taylor faced a multitude of injuries in 2022. Most notably, he sustained a fracture to the left foot which caused him to miss several weeks of action. As a result, Taylor’s offensive production suffered significantly, homering only 10 times while recording a .677 OPS, both of which were career-lows since becoming an everyday player for the team in 2017, and finally, he ended the season having struck-out 160 times in 402 plate appearances.
The dodgers will be relying on Taylor, 32, to at the very least cut down on his strikeouts. He took the steps during the off-season to visit Driveline, the renowned data-driven player development program located in Seattle.
Update:
- Gavin Lux will indeed require surgery following torn ACL – out for at least the entire 2023 season.
- On Wednesday, Dustin May made his first start of the spring against the Texas Rangers. In 1 and 2/3 innings, the Dodgers pitcher struck out three batters and walked two. May showed impressive velocity throughout his outing, throwing four-seamers consistently at 97-98 mph. His slider was particularly sharp, demonstrating that he is fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent last season. He’s only 25-years-old and the Dodgers would love to see him flourish at a nice pace.
- Mookie Betts will play in the World Baseball Classic, which will get underway March 8, in Tokyo. However, the US squad, whose in Pool C, will begin play March 11 from Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ. But for today, Betts went yard against former Dodger lefty Andrew Heaney. Dodgers beat Texas 4-2 in 7 innings.
