Tyrone Taylor Begins Rehab Assignment
Tyrone Taylor, who was placed on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain on September 2, is beginning a rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse. He’ll play center field and bat second tonight in-between Jett Williams and Ryan Clifford for the affiliate as they take on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the final series of the regular season.
Tyrone Taylor (15) Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Taylor had been sitting out while dealing with hamstring discomfort for several days in late August and early September, leading t0 his eventual placement on the IL. He had remained healthy for the entire season up to that point and spent a majority of it as a primary center field option for the Mets alongside Jeff McNeil after Jose Siri fractured his left tibia in April.
Through 109 games and 328 plate appearances on the year, Taylor has slashed .218/.277/.315 with two home runs, 33 RBIs and a 68 wRC+. He was heating up before getting injured, however, evidenced by a .367/.441/.500 slash line across 34 trips to the plate in August.
The 31-year-old has been stellar defensively all season, logging eight Defensive Runs Saved and three Outs Above Average over 778 innings. Even despite his overall struggles with the bat, Taylor remains a valuable part of the Mets’ roster for his work with the glove.
The question, however, is how the Mets will configure their roster should they make the playoffs. The club could make room for Taylor on the 28-man roster to close out the regular season by optioning either Luisangel Acuña or Ronny Mauricio to Triple-A, but there’s a logjam in the outfield that won’t easily be fixed in the postseason.
Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte and Juan Soto are all locks to make the 26-man playoff roster, but New York’s front office will have to make some tough decisions when deciding who amongst the group of Cedric Mullins, Siri and Taylor will join the aforementioned trio.
There’s still some time before that situation has to be sorted out, and Taylor still has to complete his rehab assignment before the discussion gets that far, but it certainly bears watching in the near future.
The post Tyrone Taylor Begins Rehab Assignment appeared first on Metsmerized Online.