TODAY: Taylor has now officially decided to retire, “to clear up any confusion” in a post on his Instagram page.
MAY 23: Taylor has reversed his decision to retire, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. Instead, he was placed on the minor league injured list with a broken left forearm, which he suffered Wednesday at Triple-A Salt Lake.
MAY 22: Two-time World Series winner Chris Taylor is retiring, according to the MiLB.com transaction log. He had been in Triple-A with the Angels.
Taylor played parts of 12 seasons in the major leagues. The University of Virginia product was a fifth-round pick by Seattle in 2012. He played a bench role with the Mariners for several seasons before being traded to the Dodgers for a right-hander. Zach Lee in June 2016. That seemingly small trade would haunt the Mariners, as would then-GM Jerry Dipoto. call it “the worst deal I ever made” a year later.
Although Taylor didn’t make much of an impact in his first half of the season with the Dodgers, that changed following his recall to Triple-A in April ’17. Taylor hit .288/.354/.496 with 21 home runs and 34 doubles in 140 games. He carried that form into the postseason, posting a near-.900 OPS in his October debut. That includes homers in a five-game NLCS victory over the Cubs, in which Taylor was named series MVP no. Justin Turner.
That was the beginning of five years in which Taylor was a key part of the Dodgers’ most successful teams. He hit .258/.340/.450 with 57 homers from 2018-21, earning an All-Star selection in that year’s finals. He would win his first World Series ring when LA defeated the Rays in 2020. Ironically, it was one of the postseason seasons where Taylor didn’t have good numbers, but he was miserable the following October.
Taylor had a signature moment when he hit a walk-off run against him Alex Reyes to knock the Cardinals out of the ’21 Wild Card Game. That was the first of four hits in that postseason despite the Dodgers being beaten by the Braves in the NLCS. Taylor continued that momentum in his first trip to free agency, eventually re-signing a four-year contract that guaranteed him $60MM.
While it was an obvious move for the Dodgers at the time, it didn’t work out the way Taylor or the team had hoped. He missed time in each of the first three seasons while his power production declined. His game has always come with a lot of strikeouts, so the drop in slugging numbers has caused him to hit below average. He’s always been a clubhouse staple, and he would win another championship when the Dodgers knocked off the Yankees in a five-game World Series in 2024.
Taylor spent the first six weeks of the 2025 season filling in for Dave Roberts. He would be released in May and join the Angels on a major league contract. He broke his hand early in Halos and spent most of the year on the injured list. He hit .186 in 58 games between the two clubs, but would have collected his third career ring in his first season if the Dodgers had won the championship again. Taylor also achieved the milestone of 10 years of service last August, despite being on the disabled list.
Taylor re-signed with the Angels but was unable to earn a roster spot out of camp. After 32 games with Triple-A Salt Lake, it’s clear he’s decided he’s ready to call it a career. It’s not clear if that’s due to an injury of some sort. Taylor played Wednesday and exited in the sixth inning after being hit by a pitch in what would appear to be his final professional plate appearance.
Over ten years in the Majors, Taylor compiled 860 hits and 110 home runs. He had a league average .248/.327/.419 batting line overall, although he was an above-average hitter for five straight seasons in the majors. His .247/.351/.441 postseason slash was better than his regular season mark despite the higher quality of competition.
Taylor was part of the World Series winners and four NL pennants in LA, three of them as an everyday player. He also suited up at six positions — all three outfield spots and the infield spots to the left of first base — as a versatile defender. Baseball Reference and FanGraphs have him rated at 16-17 Wins Above Replacement, and he has earned an estimated $78MM. Congratulations to Taylor on a great run and all the best in your retirement.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images.
