Q and A with Michael Taylor (Part I)

Written by: Josh Landsburg on 5th July 2009

Q and A with Michael Taylor (Part I) | read this item

Recently I had the chance to sit down with Michael Taylor, the outfield prospect for the Philadelphia Phillies, about his thoughts after his impressive performance last Sunday. Taylor, who plays for the Reading Phillies, went 3-for-5 with a homerun, four RBI, and two runs scored in a victorious performance against the Trenton Thunder. We also talked about the Phillies organization as a whole, and his thoughts on a potential trade involving him before the July 31st deadline. Taylor is the #6 overall prospect in the Phillies system, according to Baseball America, and he is the second best outfield prospect after Dominic Brown. A rare combination of power and speed, Taylor, who stands at 6’6 and 250 pounds, has the potential to be a special player for the Phils one day. Taylor is hitting .343 with 15 HR, 18 doubles, 4 triples, and 61 RBI through 77 Games this season. He also has 14 stolen bases in 18 chances, and he has an impressive .588 Slugging Percentage and a .404 On Base Percentage.

JL: Were you upset about striking out with the bases loaded the at bat before you hit the homerun?

MT: It’s pretty much business as usual. We play so many games, you have so many at bats. If you’re really upset over striking out in the fifth inning in any situation of the game, you’re going to pretty much throw away the rest of your at bats. For me, as the game goes on, maybe after the game, if you’re “off-er”, and you had the bases loaded to end the game, that’s a different story. You tend to get over it pretty quickly; I felt pretty good. That guy made some good pitches on me, he made the pitches I was looking for and he got me out. That’s a part of the game, no matter what level you’re at, or what situation you’re in, that’s just going to happen. I came up again and I got another situation where I had a chance to help our team do some damage, and I got a good pitch to swing at and I squared up.

JL: There seems to be a lot of good outfield prospects in the Phillies system, are you close with them, or is there too much competition going on to be tight?

MT: One of the things that’s very unique with me is that you come into pro ball and you hear that there is this animosity between guys at the same position, but it really hasn’t been that way in most of my dealings. My roommate is Quintin Berry, and he is obviously a prospect and trying to make it to the big leagues, and we get along fantastic. My roommate in Hawaii was Dominic Brown, and I don’t need to explain what he means to the organization and what kind of player he is and what kind of player he will be. I came into this year and I watched him last year mature into a different player. He’s gotten so much better in the last 16 months; it’s scary to think about how good he is going to be in the next year and a half. So, those are the guys I’m closest with. I’ve really tried to become a mentor to them about doing the right thing, putting the work in, and you know, staying out of trouble. It might not mean anything from an old raggedy fifth/sixth rounder like myself, but just try to let them know that working hard is important. I think we have a lot of depth in the outfield.

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