{"id":59447,"date":"2025-05-27T22:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T22:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/59447\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T22:00:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T22:00:12","slug":"chris-taylor-is-staying-in-socal-angels-sign-former-dodgers-utilityman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/59447\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Taylor is staying in SoCal. Angels sign former Dodgers utilityman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Dodgers<\/a> utilityman Chris Taylor<\/a> signed a one-year, major league minimum contract with the Angels on Monday.<\/p>\n

Taylor started in center field against the New York Yankees on Monday and went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts while batting eighth.<\/p>\n

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Angels prospect Kyren Paris<\/a>, who was struggling at the plate in recent weeks \u2014 hitting just .190 \u2014 was optioned to triple-A Salt Lake City to make room for Taylor on the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been through the wars,\u201d Angels manager Ron Washington<\/a> said of Taylor, adding that the Angels plan to use him in the outfield and the infield. \u201cHe’s a good piece for those young guys to talk to about how to handle a grind. He\u2019s been in a grind over there with L.A., every day, winning, and we want that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Taylor, left, is greeted by an Angels coach before batting practice at Angel Stadium on May 26. (Kevork Djansezian \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Released by the Dodgers in the final year of his four-year, $60-million contract last week, Taylor was hitting .200 with seven hits in 35 at-bats before entering free agency. Washington is hopeful Taylor’s reputation for being a quiet clubhouse leader will help revive an Angels team three games under .500.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI’m excited to stay home \u2014 I get to live at home,\u201d Taylor said before Monday’s game. “The Angels have been playing really good baseball, so I’m excited to join the team and hopefully get on the field. That was one thing with the Dodgers this year, just my role, I wasn’t getting on the field that much. So I’m really just looking forward to, like, getting consistent at-bats and playing time.”<\/p>\n

A career .250 hitter and a one-time All-Star, the 34-year-old Taylor has experience playing in the infield and all three outfield positions, adding versatility and depth to an Angels team waiting for outfielder Mike Trout\u2019s return from the injured list (knee). Taylor said general manager Perry Minasian and Washington told him he\u2019d be playing three to four times a week. Taylor believes he\u2019ll be slotted into the lineup at center field Tuesday as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, I want to perform on the field,\u201d said Taylor, who attributed his multi-season batting slump to swing mechanics. \u201cI want to help this team win ballgames. I feel like I have a lot to prove to myself. I haven’t performed to how I feel I’m capable of playing the last couple seasons, and I kind of want to turn that around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angels closer Kenley Jansen<\/a>, who played alongside Taylor on the Dodgers from 2016 to 2021, learned of Taylor\u2019s signing while on his way to Angel Stadium.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have him back,\u201d said Jansen, who said he spoke to Minasian about Taylor on Sunday. \u201cI think once he gets more playing time here, I think, you know, it’s going to be great for the organization and help us win ball games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: Jack Kochanowicz shows potential, but gets little support in Angels’ loss to Yankees<\/a><\/p>\n

When asked about Taylor\u2019s release Wednesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said his former longest-tenured position player was looking for an opportunity to play more often rather than accepting a demotion to triple A.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted an opportunity, if it wasn’t going to be here to play more, to play somewhere else,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cSo that’s kind of the thought behind how it played out, and I respect him for betting on himself and hopefully get an opportunity to play more somewhere else.”<\/p>\n

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Taylor should get those opportunities with the Angels. As he put it, playing at Angel Stadium is a fresh start, an opportunity to regain his previous form in the batter\u2019s box.<\/p>\n

“It was emotional,\u201d Taylor said of his Dodgers departure. \u201cI’ve been on the Dodgers for nine years, but I do believe it was time for me. It was my time to kind of start fresh, hopefully turn the page, start a new chapter. I’m excited to do that here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Dodgers utilityman Chris Taylor signed a one-year, major league minimum contract with the Angels on Monday. Taylor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2194,291,16624,5,2059,39,132,16623,3766,603,4,62,5051,4180,5317],"class_list":{"0":"post-59447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-angel-stadium","9":"tag-angels","10":"tag-angels-coach","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-chris-taylor","13":"tag-dodgers","14":"tag-kenley-jansen","15":"tag-kevork-djansezian","16":"tag-kyren-paris","17":"tag-mike-trout","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-new-york-yankees","20":"tag-ron-washington","21":"tag-taylor","22":"tag-the-angels"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114582049726296757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}