BIOGRAPHY
Chris Taylor was born August 29, 1990, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is an outfielder in the MLB.
On June 19, 2016, the Mariners traded Taylor to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Zach Lee. Seattle Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto would later regret making this trade by calling it "clearly the worst deal I've ever made."
On July 15, 2016, Taylor hit his first major league career home run, a grand slam, off Silvino Bracho of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also had a double, a triple, drove in six runs, and fell just short of hitting for the cycle. He was the third Dodgers player in history to have his first career homer be a grand slam (Preston Ward in 1948 and Chico Fernández in 1956) and the third Dodgers second baseman to have at least six RBIs in a game (Billy Herman in 1943 and Jackie Robinson in 1949). He played in 34 games for the Dodgers in 2016, hitting .207/.258/362 with one home run and 7 RBIs, primarily playing shortstop.
On October 14, 2017, Taylor hit his first career postseason home run, off Héctor Rondón of the Chicago Cubs, in Game 1 of the 2017 National League Championship Series (NLCS). Taylor and Justin Turner were selected as the co-MVPs of the NLCS. On October 24, Taylor hit a home run on the first pitch by Astros' pitcher Dallas Keuchel to begin Game 1 of the 2017 World Series. Overall, in the 2017 post-season, Taylor hit .254 with three home runs and seven RBI in 15 games.
In his third season with the Dodgers, Taylor posted a .254/.331/.444 slashline with 17 home runs, 63 RBIs and 9 stolen bases in 604 plate appearances, and led the National League with 178 strikeouts. He reached career highs in games played (155), runs scored (85), doubles (35), triples (8), and walks (55). With teammate Corey Seager missing most of the season due to a right UCL strain, requiring Tommy John Surgery, Taylor spent the majority of the season at shortstop (81 games, 73 starts). He also played center field (50 games, 32 starts), left field (24 games, 18 starts), second base (12 games, 5 starts), and third base (8 games, 3 starts). On September 10, 2018, Taylor was selected to represent MLB in the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series. In the post-season, Taylor had only one hit in four at-bats in the 2018 NLDS, but his hit was a homer. In the 2018 NLCS, he had eight hits in 22 at-bats and in the 2018 World Series, he had two hits in 18 at-bats.
In 2019, Taylor returned to his utility role, playing in 124 games (which included 39 at shortstop during another period that Seager was on the injured list). He hit .262/.333/.462 with 12 homers and 52 RBIs, and 115 strikeouts in 366 at bats.
On February 7, 2020, Taylor signed a two-year, $13.4 million, contract extension with the Dodgers, avoiding salary arbitration. The season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Taylor was the Dodgers' primary second baseman, appearing in 56 of the 60 games the team played and batting .270/.366/.476 with eight homers and 32 RBIs. In the posteason, he had one hit in eight at-bats in the Wild Card Series, was hitless in 11 at-bats in the NLDS, had three hits in 18 at-bats in the NLCS and in the World Series had five hits, including a home run, in 23 at-bats.
Taylor was selected to represent the Dodgers at the 2021 All-Star Game, his first All-Star appearance. On October 6, 2021, Taylor hit a two-out, two-run, walk-off home run against the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Wild Card game.
In 2022, Taylor played in 118 games for he Dodgers (with the majority of them being in the outfield), and batted .221 with 10 homers and 43 RBIs.
