The Dodgers have a Chris Taylor problem

He's turned into the worst player in baseball

We’re two weeks into the season, but the sample size is much larger than that.

It’s been a brutal start to the 2023 campaign for Chris Taylor. He’s been one of the worst hitters in all of baseball through 12 games. Currently, there are 204 players who have at least 34 plate appearances this season. Here’s where Taylor ranks among those players.

• .097 AVG (201st)

• 41.2 K% (Worst in league)

• .147 OBP (Worst in league)

• .063 BABIP (202nd)

• 10 wRC+ (198th)

I know, I know. Everyone is going to start yelling at me now.

“But Blake! It’s only been 12 games! You can’t judge a player off of only 12 games, you idiot!”

Like I mentioned at the beginning of the article, the sample size is much larger than that. Taylor was also horrific at the plate during spring. In 20 games, Taylor hit .158 with an OPS of .627 and had a strikeout rate of 37 percent.

“But Blake! Spring Training games don’t mean anything!”

Taylor’s struggles also date back to last season. If you stretch back to June 27, 2022, here’s where Taylor ranks among 238 qualified hitters.

• .164 AVG (237th)

• 36.7 K% (237th)

• .248 OBP (235th)

• .531 OPS (235th)

• 53 wRC+ (236th)

• .241 wOBA (236th)

This isn’t a rough two weeks. It’s a stretch that lasts nearly a year. It’s a healthy sample size. Even during his All-Star season in 2021, Taylor hit .157 with an OPS of .511 over the final 40 games. After the best first half of his career, he followed with an awful second half.

In only nine games this season, Taylor has a fWAR of -0.3. That’s tied for the third worst in all of baseball with a much smaller sample size than the players above him with more games. He’s costing the Dodgers games. We saw it first hand last night when he struck out three times and left a combined six runners on base.

There’s a 0.01% chance the Dodgers release him, as he’s owed $45 million over the next three seasons. (Oof)

So, what the hell do the Dodgers do with Chris Taylor?

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