Samad Taylor

Samad Jahad Taylor

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 160 lb.
• High School Corona High School
• Debut June 17, 2023

• Born July 11, 1998 in Corona, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Samad Taylor was one of two players obtained by the Kansas City Royals from the Toronto Blue Jays when they traded longtime team mainstay Whit Merrifield at the trading deadline in 2022 (the other was pitcher Max Castillo). Samad had originally been drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 10th round of the 2016 amateur draft, but one year after that had been traded to the Jays in another deadline deal, this one in 2017 along with P Thomas Pannone in return for P Joe Smith.

Taylor had hit well in his first couple of seasons in the Indians system, but struggled after joining the Jays, batting .228 in 121 games for the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League in 2017 and .218 in 108 games for the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League in 2019. After losing the 2020 season to the COVID-19 pandemic, he headed to the Canberra Cavalry of the Australian Baseball League in the winter of 2020-21 just to get some game time, and hit a lot better when he joined the New Hampshire Fisher Cats of what was then called the Double-A Northeast in 2021. He hit .294 in 87 games, with 17 doubles, 16 homers and 52 RBIs, re-establishing himself as a prospect. Before the trade in 2022, he hit .258 in 70 games for the AAA Buffalo Bisons, but he was injured when traded and never got to play a game in the Royals' system that season.

He got off to a strong start with the Omaha Storm Chasers in 2023, batting .304 with an OBP of .406 in his first 62 games and was called up to the big club on June 16th after Vinnie Pasquantino was declared lost for the remainder of the season. He made his debut the next day, starting in left field and wearing number 0 against the Los Angeles Angels. He went 1 for 3 with a walk and his first major league hit was a walk-off winner that drove in Maikel Garcia from third base in the bottom of the 9th. The 10-9 win snapped a ten-game losing streak for Kansas City, that had tumbled past the up-to-then awful Oakland Athletics to claim the worst record in the majors. The hit came against reliever Chris Devenski after the Royals had managed to tie the game earlier that inning. In another highlight, on August 14th, he scored the winning run from third base on a squeeze bunt to give K.C. a 7-6 win over the Seattle Mariners. Samad appeared in 31 games for the Royals, hitting .200 with no homers and 4 RBIs, with 8 stolen bases in as many attempts, and an OPS+ of 52. He split his time mainly between left field and second base. In the minors, he finished at .302 in 89 games for Omaha, with 8 homers and 55 RBIs, and 43 steals in 53 attempts. Following the season, he played in the Mexican Pacific League with the Yaquis de Obregon, hitting .310 in 8 games.

On January 30, 2024, he was traded to the Seattle Mariners in return for a player to be named later.

Further Reading

• Daniel Kramer: "Mariners add INF/OF Taylor in trade with Royals", mlb.com, January 30, 2024. [1]
• Anne Rogers: "Taylor's 1st hit a walk-off: 'This is nothing you dream of'", mlb.com, June 17, 2023. [2]
• Jaylon Thompson (Kansas City Star): "Samad Taylor’s 1st MLB hit is a walk-off winner in Kansas City Royals’ furious comeback", Yahoo! News, June 17, 2023. [3]

Related Sites

• Samad Taylor on mlb.com