Tyler Moore

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Tyler Michael Moore

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Biographical Information[edit]

Tyler Moore is an outfielder/first baseman for the Washington Nationals (as of 2012). The Nationals were very determined to get Tyler on their team, as they drafted him three different times: first in the 41st round in 2005, out of high school, out of junior college in 2006 and again in the 16th round out of Mississippi State in 2007, when he finally signed. The scout was Eric Robinson.

Amateur Career[edit]

Moore hit .473 with 16 homers as a high school senior, helping his team to the state class 5A title. Louisville Slugger named him the Mississippi Player of the Year and an All-American. He hit .300 with 15 dingers as a freshman in college. In junior college in 2007, he set a school record 19 home runs, most of any player in junior college that year. He was named the NJCAA Division II Player of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association. Transferring to Mississippi State for his junior year, he hit .299/.373/.559 with 14 HR.

Minor League Career[edit]

He started his professional career with the Vermont Lake Monsters of the short-season Class A New York-Penn League in 2008. He hit only .200 (with an abysmal .239 OBP) in 71 games as the starting first baseman, but did show good power with 10 doubles and 6 homers. He still only slugged .306. He did lead NYPL first basemen with 67 assists. He took a huge step forward with the Class A Hagerstown Suns in 2009, hitting .297/.363/.447 with 30 doubles and 9 homers. Somehow, he scored only 38 runs while driving in 87. He tied Ryan Lavarnway for second in the South Atlantic League in RBI, 9 shy of leader Josh Mazzola. He also tied for 9th in two-baggers, was 7th in average (between Erik Morrison and Steve Lombardozzi) and tied for second with 8 sacrifice flies, one behind pacesetter Travis d'Arnaud. He again led the league's first basemen in assists (70) He led Nationals farmhands in RBI (3 ahead of Derek Norris) and tied Norris for second in doubles, one behind Danny Espinosa.

He continued to be a top run producer in 2010 with the Potomac Nationals of the Carolina League, where he had 111 RBI in 129 games; his power really blossomed, as he banged out 43 doubles and 31 homers (22 after the All-Star break) and scored 78 runs to help Potomac win the title. He only was hitting .184 at the end of June but would win four hitter of the week awards in a six-week period later in the year. His batting line was .269/.321/.552. He led the Carolina League in doubles (3 ahead of Cody Puckett), home runs (6 ahead of runner-up Seth Loman), extra-base hits (77), RBI (23 more than Loman), total bases (277, 13 ahead of Loman), slugging percentage, assists at 1B (109) and errors at 1B (11). He made the league All-Star team at DH (Eric Hosmer was picked at 1B). He led Nationals minor leaguers in doubles, homers (9 ahead of runner-up Espinosa), slugging and RBI (26 more than the next player, Michael Burgess). In the affiliated minors, he tied Mike Moustakas for second in extra-base hits (behind Paul Goldschmidt's 80), tied for 4th in doubles (behind Jacob Goebbert, Luis Jimenez and Nick Evans) and was 5th in RBI (behind Rich Poythress, Moustakas, Mark Trumbo and Brandon Belt). Baseball America listed him as the #18 prospect in the Carolina League, between Ryan Lavarnway and Jordan Henry). He was named the Carolina League MVP after the season as well as the Nationals Minor League Player of the Year.

In 2011, Tyler moved to AA and the Harrisburg Senators, where he was the Eastern League All-Star 1B after hitting .270/.314/.532 with 35 doubles, 31 homers and 90 RBI in 137 games. He led the EL in home runs (3 more than Brahiam Maldonado), RBI (6 ahead of Matt Rizzotti) and total bases (276, 8 ahead of Starling Marte). He was second to d'Arnaud in slugging. He led the Nationals farm chain in home runs (10 ahead of Bill Rhinehart), RBI (7 ahead of Destin Hood) and doubles. It was the third straight year the 16th-round pick had led the Washington minor league system in RBI. In 2010-2011, he tied Goldschmidt for the most RBI in minor league baseball. Baseball America named him the top power prospect in the EL but did not list him as one of that circuit's top 20 prospects.

Major League Career[edit]

In 2012 he was promoted to the AAA Syracuse Chiefs. For the first time as a professional, he played at a position other than first base, getting into three games as a left fielder in April, when he hit .286/.364/.597 in 22 games playing alongside top prospect Bryce Harper. He was called up to Washington alongside Harper on April 28th and made his major league debut a day after his illustrious teammate, starting in left field against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 29th, with Harper in center after Jayson Werth was a last-minute scratch because of a migraine headache. He went 1 for 3 in his debut, his first hit being a 5th-inning single off Chris Capuano. he ended up playing 75 games for the Nats and hitting .263/.327/.513 in 156 at-bats. He had 10 homers and 29 RBI, providing some much-needed punch from the right side of the plate. He was on the Nats' postseason roster and singled in his only at-bat as a pinch-hitter, driving in a pair of runs against lefty Marc Rzepczynski of the St. Louis Cardinals to give the Nats a 3-2 lead in the 8th inning of Game 1.

Moore made the Nats' roster out of spring training in 2013, but was affected by the lack of regular playing time. On July 7th, he was hitting only .157 with 3 homers and 14 RBI in 102 at-bats when he was sent back to AAA in order to get some regular playing time. The Nationals acquired veteran Scott Hairston in a trade with the Chicago Cubs to fill his role. He came back in mid-August and immediately went on a tear, going 12-for-25 (.480) in his first 6 games back. That helped to push his average up to a more respectable .222 by the end of the year. He also hit .318 with 14 doubles and 10 homers min 45 games for Syracuse. He got only limited opportunities to play at the major league level in 2014, hitting .231 with 4 homers and 14 RBIs in only 91 at-bats. With Syracuse, he played 84 games, hitting .265 with 21 doubles and 10 homers. He did not appear in the postseason that year.

Moore made his major league pitching debut on August 5, 2015, in a blow-out loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Nats were trailing 10-2 with one out in the top of the 9th, when he relieved Felipe Rivero who had just allowed a pair of runs and put two other men on; he got the last two outs, although another run scored on a force out and he hit a batter with a pitch. The Nationals then scored a pair of meaningless runs in the bottom of the 9th, but Tyler grounded out in his lone at-bat as a pitcher. He hit .203 in 97 games, with 6 homers and 27 RBIs.

On March 27, 2016, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves in return for 1B Nate Freiman.

Notable Achievements[edit]

Sources[edit]

Related Sites[edit]

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