2023

The New York Yankees drafted pitcher/center field/power hitter/freak of nature Sam Taylor today, 1st overall in the 1st round. The Yankees haven't had the #1 overall pick in 15 years--a pick that ended up flopping--so they decided to play it safe...yeah, that was tough. They picked the consensus #1 all around player, Sam Taylor. Taylor has been the #1 prospect since he started the 9th grade; a modern day Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, you name it, a freak that many believe could have started for any MLB team when he was 14. Taylor finished his senior year for Timpanogos High in Orem, Utah, batting .752, with 22 home runs...in 25 games. Taylor broke his own records, ones he had set as a freshman, sophomore, and junior; he improved on those records every season. That is what he did from the plate. From the mound, Taylor through 9 no-hitters in 11 starts, ending up with a .10 ERA and an 11-0 record. What to do with a multi-dimensional talent like this? Scouts are unsure where he'll end up playing--he throws 99-102 with 4 wicked pitches, he runs a 4.2 in the 40 and has a Bo Jackson type arm, making him perfect for center field, or he can play 3rd or short with impeccable fielding skills. He may be the 1st player since Babe Ruth to really contribute from the mound and the plate, with some in the Yankee's organization suggesting he may pitch every 4 to 5 days and when he's not on the mound, he'll be in center field. Yankees GM, Derek Jeter, plans on having Taylor start with the Yankees Triple A team, and after no more than a dozen games or so, moving him up to the bigs. When asked about the rapid pace of this plan, Jeter respond "When he's ready to be an All-Star today, why waste time in the minors? He's only going there for a couple of weeks to take a little pressure off of him. With New York fans and media all over this kid already, we want him to break in before he becomes a paparazzi star." Jeter knows what it's like--although he never had the hype behind him that Taylor currently has. Whether it's 2 days, 2 weeks, or 2 months, when Sam Taylor makes his debut in Yankee Stadium, he's going to have Michael Jordan-like expectations awaiting his first trip to the mound/plate. I for one, believe he'll meet the expectations we have for him. I had a chance to talk to his family at the draft. They seem to deal with the crazy media circus pretty well. Sam's dad, Steve, said he's not worried about Sam dealing with the hype, "Sam has always put aside other people's expectations and focused on what he can control. He knows what he's capable of doing and whether or not that aligns with outside perception or not, it doesn't really matter to him. He knows that he can do amazing things on a baseball field and as long as he focuses on that, he'll be fine." His mom Stacy, and younger sister Sophie, both echoed Steve's comments, saying Sam will do what he's always done and whether he's in New York or Orem, Utah, it won't change how he plays baseball. Conspiracy theorists are already concocting theories about MLB fixing the draft, but regardless of how they got the #1 pick, they got it and now they've got the biggest freak of nature to step foot on a baseball diamond in a long, long time, maybe ever.

New Sports Blog

My other blog is usually about politics so I thought I'd start a separate blog solely about sports. I'm taking a journalism class so I'm going to practice writing about sporting events like a journalist. I've even decided I'm probably going to look into getting a Master's Degree in Journalism and try to cover politics or sports or both.  I know that I have at least two readers--my wife and my mom, so this is for my own satisfaction and practice more than anything else. If I end up writing something half-decent, I might submit it to various publications, looking for a possible freelance role. Anyway, I will cover sporting events that I watch so I can give a first-person perspective to my stories, hopefully providing some sort of insight that isn't found in the newspaper.