Taylor will join the big league club Tuesday in Houston
Another former Tiger is getting called up to the show.
Former LSU pitcher Grant Taylor was promoted from Double-A Birmingham to the Big Leagues and will join the Chicago White Sox ahead of the club’s upcoming series in Houston.
Taylor is the 89th former Tiger to make it to the MLB and LSU’s had at least one player make their debut in 31 of the past 35 seasons.
Taylor is one of the better “what could have been” players in recent LSU history. While he was with the Tigers for two seasons, he only pitched in a total of 17 games as a freshman in the 2022 season. Taylor missed all of the 2023 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Taylor was in line to be LSU’s No. 2 pitcher behind Paul Skenes, but tore his UCL a week before the 2023 season began.
Despite the Tommy John surgery, Chicago still valued Taylor enough to take him in the second round (51st overall) of the 2023 MLB Draft and signed him to the full value of $1.69 million.
Taylor very quickly ascended up Chicago’s prospect rankings, checking in as the White Sox’s No. 6 prospect. In 15 games with the Birmingham Barons, Taylor 1.01 ERA across 26.2 innings. Taylor’s struck out 37 over that span and opponents are batting a minuscule .135 against him. He’s been working out of the bullpen as of late, and that appears to be where his immediate future lies.
Chicago seems to realize they have a potentially dominant arm on its hands, and Taylor will reportedly be on an innings limit. In addition to his Tommy John surgery, Taylor battled a lat strain that sidelined him for three months last season.
“We had to manage his innings regardless this year based on his history,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “Obviously it’s a very talented arm and there’s different ways to develop players. We know that although we’ve got him in shorter stints right now, we’re certainly not closing the door on him being a starter in the future.
“You look at as close of an example as Garrett Crochet and his bullpen days and then transitioning to be a starter and what that has done for Garrett’s career and has done for the White Sox. As for right now we’ve got him in these shorter stints and I think the most important thing is he’s healthy and he’s performing very well.”