Michael Taylor throws 93 mph as first Royals position player to pitch this season

Michael Taylor ticked off another box in his Major League Baseball career.

In Saturday’s blowout loss to the Cleveland Guardians, the 31-year-old veteran stepped on the mound to pitch as a position player. It was the first time he had pitched in a game since high school.

Royals manager Mike Matheny said he had conversations with players to see if there would be any everyday position players willing to pitch in a rare blowout situation to save the bullpen. Taylor was one of “a couple of takers.”

So when Kansas City fell behind 11-0 on Saturday after an early exit for starter Jonathan Heasley, Taylor said he knew there was a possibility he could pitch for the first time in his MLB career.

Taylor came on in the eighth inning and threw exclusively from the stretch. He got through one inning unscathed before allowing two runs in the ninth inning.

“I was just trying to move quick and not get hurt,” Taylor said. “I think I did that.”

In the 2021 season, Taylor’s average max-effort arm strength — the top 10 percent of his throws — ranked third among all outfielders at 92.8 mph in August. He finished the season seventh with 11 outfield assists.

On Saturday, he showed that arm strength: hitting 93.8 mph on a pitch in the last at-bat of the eighth inning. The heater was the second fastest pitch thrown by a position player this season, only falling behind Christian Betancourt’s 94.5 mph pitch thrown on June 8.

“I took a couple (pitches) to see what I could hit,” Taylor said. “And I didn’t think it was safe to try to throw any harder than that.”

In the ninth inning, a leadoff home run and a bases-loaded jam seemed to put a damper on Taylor’s performance. But he struck out two Guardians and received the loudest cheers all game from the crowd at Kauffman Stadium that stuck around in the 13-1 loss.

Taylor also became the first Royals position player to record two strikeouts in a pitching appearance. The previous 19 position players pitching had combined for four strikeouts.

With a doubleheader looming on Monday, Taylor saved six outs for a bullpen that needed three pitchers to get through 5 1/3 innings of relief on Saturday.

More insterstingly, Taylor will now be able to say he pitched at the Major League level.

“I thought it’d be something that would be fun to say, ‘I threw,’” Taylor said.

This story was originally published July 9, 2022 at 7:40 PM.