Blake Taylor

BLAKE TAYLOR
LEFT HANDED PITCHER
  Born: August 17. 1995
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 210
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Drafted: 2nd Round, 51st Overall, 2013
How Acquired: Draft
High School: Dana Hills (CA) HS
Agent: Paragon Sports International

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

Taylor is a projectable prep left-hander whose performance has been inconsistent so far but who has very good potential.  He currently throws 89-91 with good movement, and has reached 94 in the past.  He has good size for a lefty and the Pirates are no doubt hoping he’ll add at least a little velocity.  Taylor has a good curve and, like most prep pitchers, hasn’t thrown a change much yet.  His command needs to improve.  Taylor throws from a three-quarters slot and scouts like his delivery.  One interesting factor with him is that he’s unusually young; he won’t turn 18 until over two months after the draft.  Baseball America ranked him as the 55th best prospect in the draft and other services have also ranked him in the 40-60 range.  It’d be helpful if he develops, because left-handed pitching is not a strength in the Pirates’ system.  He had a commitment to Hawaii, but signed quickly and should head to the GCL.  Taylor signed for $750,000, which was well below the slot value of $1,065,400.

2013
R:  0-2-0, 2.57 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 21.0 IP, 3.9 BB/9, 5.6 K/9

Taylor had a good debut, holding opponents to a .104 average.  His walk and K rates weren’t good, though, so the low number of hits was clearly fluky, but he had a high groundball rate and allowed no HRs.

Taylor is very young, so it’s unlikely the Pirates would move him up to West Virginia.  He’ll probably be at Jamestown next year.

STATS
Baseball Reference–Minors
Fangraphs
MiLB.com

HS
W-L-Sv
G
GS
IP
H
HR
BB
K
WHIP
OAVG
ERA
2013 2-3-0 11 10 49.0 37 2 35 59 1.47 .222 2.57
CONTRACT INFORMATION
2014: Minor league contract
PLAYER INFORMATION
Signing Bonus: $750,000
MiLB Debut: 2013
MLB Debut:
MiLB FA Eligible: 2019
MLB FA Eligible:
Rule 5 Eligible: 2017
Added to 40-Man:
Options Remaining: 3
MLB Service Time: 0.000
TRANSACTIONS
June 6, 2013: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2nd round, 51st overall pick; signed on June 14.