Chris Taylor Retires

Chris Taylor is retiring after playing parts of 12 seasons in Major League Baseball. A University of Virginia product, he was drafted by Seattle in 2012 and later traded to the Dodgers in June 2016. After a recall from Triple-A in April 2017, he produced strong regular-season and postseason numbers, including a co-MVP performance in the 2017 NLCS. From 2018 to 2021, he became a key contributor for successful Dodgers teams, earning an All-Star selection and winning a World Series in 2020. In 2021, he hit multiple postseason home runs, including a walk-off against the Cardinals. He later re-signed on a four-year, $60MM deal but missed time early in the contract.

"Taylor played parts of 12 seasons in the big leagues. The University of Virginia product was a fifth-round pick by Seattle in 2012. He played a bench role with the Mariners for a couple seasons before being traded to the Dodgers for right-hander in June 2016. That seemingly minor trade would haunt the Mariners, as then-GM Jerry Dipoto would call it "the worst deal I ever made" a year later."

"Although Taylor wasn't much of a factor in his first half-season with the Dodgers, that changed following his recall from Triple-A in April '17. Taylor hit .288/.354/.496 with 21 home runs and 34 doubles over 140 games. He carried that form into the postseason, posting a near-.900 OPS in his first October action. That included a pair of homers in a five-game NLCS victory over the Cubs, in which Taylor was named the co-series MVP with Justin Turner."

"That was the start of a five-year stretch in which Taylor was a key piece of very successful Dodgers teams. He'd hit .258/.340/.450 with 57 homers from 2018-21, earning an All-Star selection in the final of those years. He'd win his first World Series ring when L.A. defeated the Rays in 2020. That was ironically one of the only postseasons in which Taylor didn't have good numbers, but he'd go on an absolute tear the following October."

"Taylor had a signature moment when he hit a walk-off home run against to knock out the Cardinals in the '21 Wild Card Game. That was the first of four he'd hit in that postseason despite Dodgers getting bounced by the Braves in the NLCS. Taylor carried that momentum into his first trip to free agency, eventually re-signing on a four-year contract that guaranteed him $60MM."

Read at MLB Trade Rumors