San Francisco Giants: Players in San Jose to Keep an Eye on in 2017
Taylor was drafted by the Giants in the 8th round of the 2015 draft out of Dallas Baptist. He is a right handed starter who stands 6’2’’ and weighs 255 pounds.
Like most of the aforementioned prospects, he has played at multiple levels since being drafted. In 2015, he went 2-0 with an ERA on 2.45 in 18 games as a reliever. He struck out 50 batters in 33 innings, but had a WHIP of 1.45 and opponents hit .286 off of him.
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2016 was relatively successful for Taylor, overall. He began the year in Class-A August—going 9-5 with a 2.58 ERA in 18 starts. He threw 97.2 innings and struck out 100 batters, before being promoted to Advanced Class-A San Jose. In San Jose he struggled a bit, posting a 1-1 record with an ERA of 6.75 in three starts. However, he was ultimately called up to Double-A Richmond, where he proceeded to go 1-0 in two starts with an ERA of 0.75. In Richmond, batters managed to only hit .227 off of Taylor, which shows his improvement over the course of the season.
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Even though Taylor had success in Richmond in 2016, I expect him to begin the year in San Jose to gain experience. I will be waiting to see how he progresses in 2017, along with all the other prospects listed above.