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Devin Taylor...

ptrich

Hall of Famer
Gold Member
Nov 2, 2001
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D1baseball featured Taylor in a review of the Cape Code League by Patrick Ebert which was pretty long. Here are some excerpts from it along with a montage of Taylor swings at the plate with the Hoosiers.

"During my conversation with Indiana outfielder Devin Taylor on a beautiful summer evening, it quickly became apparent he had two simple goals for his time spent in the Cape Cod Baseball League: to have fun and to get better. His team had just lost to the Brewster Whitecaps, 4-3, and Taylor had struck out in his only at-bat, a pinch-hitting appearance. You wouldn’t have known it by the way he graciously greeted the fans that approached him after the game, however, smiling from ear to ear the whole time."

After spending just over a week with Cotuit, Taylor was off to Cary, N.C., to participate with the Collegiate National Team. After playing eight games in nine days adorning the Stars and Stripes, Taylor headed back to Cotuit acknowledging more work needed to be done.

“I decided I wanted to come here earlier than USA [Baseball] just to get some at-bats in, get back into the rhythm that I had during the spring before I head off and face the top guys in the nation,” Taylor said of the first half of his summer. “I just love playing baseball. I plan to stay out here all summer and just get better every day. You can always improve on the baseball field, just playing the game consistently.”

Through 15 games with the Kettleers, Taylor is slashing .304/.400/.543. Three of his 14 hits are home runs, and another is a triple.

Last summer he was named the NECBL’s Rookie of the Year playing for the Keene Swamp Bats, where he batted .314 with eight homers and 30 RBIs.

I’m not sure Taylor knows how not to hit, as he hasn’t missed a beat since arriving on campus as a promising recruit out of Cincinnati. A 6-foot-1, 215-pound lefthanded hitting, righthanded throwing outfielder, he kicked off his college career by earning the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year honors. He was also named First Team-All Big Ten in each of two years with the Hoosiers, batting .315 with 16 homers and 59 RBIs his first year and .357 with 20 home runs and 54 RBIs this past season.

He’s quick to recognize that he isn’t a complete player and there will always be work to be done. Time spent in the weight room is a priority with the simple goal of getting bigger, faster and stronger. He worked hard from year one to year two at Indiana, reducing his strikeouts, and while speed isn’t a big part of his game, it’s one of his primary areas of focus this summer. Not just when it comes to stealing bases, but taking extra bases aggressively and covering ground in the outfield.

Playing with and against the best players in the nation and for Coach Roberts, Taylor is absorbing as much as he can, aiming to return to Indiana as an ever-improving version of himself. He’ll enter the 2025 season as the favorite for Big Ten Player of the Year, one of the frontrunners for the Golden Spikes Award and a projected premium pick in next summer’s MLB Draft.

“[I’m] having some fun, learning a little about baserunning from Coach [Mike] Roberts, which has really helped me on the bases,” Taylor said of his summer goals. “I need to gain a little bit of speed, I’m not as fast as I want to be as an outfielder, which I’m working on in the weight room.”

Here's the montage of swings at the plate by Devin.

 
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