Taylor Walls

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Davis Taylor Walls

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Biographical Information[edit]

Infielder Taylor Walls was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 3rd round of the 2017 amateur draft out of Florida State University. He was the captain of the team that reached the 2017 College World Series.

He was called up to the major leagues on May 22, 2021, one day after the Rays had traded starting shortstop Willy Adames to the Milwaukee Brewers. Fans expected them to call up #1 prospect Wander Franco, but instead it was Taylor who got the call, starting at shortstop against the Toronto Blue Jays that day. He may not have had Franco's profile, but he was still rated the top defensive player in the Rays' system by Baseball America. In his debut, he hit a pair of doubles, one from each side of the plate, and scored a run in a 3-1 win. Franco was eventually called up and was as good as expected, but Walls did not do too badly either: while he hit just .211 with 1 homer in 54 games, he showed outstanding defensive skills, pushing the Rays to play Franco at third base much of the time.

In 2022, he played 142 games for Tampa Bay - once again largely due to his superior defensive skills as he batted just .172 with 8 homers and 33 RBIs, with a slugging percentage of barely .285 and an OPS+ of 63. He was the starting shortstop for an extended period during which Franco was injured and in fact ended up playing more innings than him at the position, but also saw significant playing time at second and third base, where his defense was also excellent. He played in both games of the Wild Card Series against the Cleveland Guardians, going 1 for 5. He took a big step forward offensively at the start of the 2023 season, when the Rays started the year like a rocket. After 31 games, he was hitting .281 with 7 homers and 18 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 167 while playing third and second base, with Franco having an outstanding season as the everyday shortstop. On May 14th, he hit the first grand slam of his career in a key situation: it came in the 5th inning of the last game of a four-game series against the New York Yankees at New Yankee Stadium, just after the Rays had tied the game at 4-4. He took Albert Abreu deep with the bases loaded to make it 8-4, and the Rays held on for an eventual 8-7 win. While observers may have been surprised by Walls' dramatic improvement with the bat, it was not the case for him, as he had hit .272 in the minors and felt that it was the previous season that was the outlier.

Further Reading[edit]

  • Bill Ladson: "Walls' slam continues his revival as Rays hang on: Infielder has raised average 109 points from 2022 to become key part of Majors' best team", mlb.com, May 14, 2023. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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