Michael A.

Taylor

Taylor will hang up his spikes at the conclusion of Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Nationals, where he spent the first seven seasons of his pro career. The 34-year-old defensive ace is in center field and batting ninth in his final game. He wraps up a 12-year career that included stops with the Nationals, Royals, Twins, Pirates and White Sox.

Tauchman has been a mainstay against right-handers all year long and Taylor was playing most of the time with Luis Robert Jr. on the shelf, but it seems the White Sox have decided to take a look at younger players this last week of the season. They have Brooks Baldwin in center and Dominic Fletcher in right tonight. Notably, the prioritizing of younger players isn’t doing Curtis Mead any good; he’s started just one of the last six games.

White Sox’ skipper Will Venable called it a precautionary measure and Tauchman is considered day-to-day. Michael A. Taylor will start in his place in right field and bat ninth for the White Sox against Mick Abel and the Twins on Saturday night.

Taylor has started in each of the last four games, which has coincided with the White Sox no longer using Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero in the lineup at the same time in every game. If Taylor were locked into a regular role, he might be of interest in AL-only formats, but we’re not ready to go there yet.

The 34-year-old outfielder jumped on a 2-2 splitter from right-hander Logan Gilbert and crushed a 375-foot (101.4 mph EV) solo shot to left field that pulled the White Sox to within a run at 2-1. He finished the day 1-for-5 and is now hitting .215/.277/.407 with seven long balls and 27 RBI on the season.

There’s no word as to why Robert is out of the lineup, but considering there’s six days until the trade deadline, people are allowed to speculate wildly. We won’t, however. The 27-year-old gets a day off with Michael A. Taylor getting the nod in center.

Tristan Gray was demoted to make room. Robert missed just less than two weeks with his hamstring strain, and now he has a bit more than two weeks to catch the eye of contenders before a seemingly inevitable trade later this month. At least for a little while, Michael A. Taylor should receive less playing time with Robert back. Brooks Baldwin has been starting in center of late, but he should continue to play pretty regularly in a super-utility role.

Taylor opened the scoring in the ballgame as he smacked a two-run single off of Antonio Senzatela in the top half of the fourth inning. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the evening. For the season, the 34-year-old outfielder is hitting a disappointing .216/.293/.370 with four homers, 19 RBI and seven stolen bases across 182 plate appearances.

Taylor was presumably injured while sliding into Max Muncy’s knee. That led to a seemingly far more serious injury for Muncy, while Taylor is day-to-day. Drake Baldwin replaced him against the Dodgers.

Robert takes a seat for the third consecutive game as he continues to nurse an ongoing left hamstring issue that cropped up during Wednesday’s game against the Diamondbacks. It’ll be veteran defensive specialist Michael A. Taylor continuing to patrol center field in his absence. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day heading into Tuesday’s showdown against the Dodgers.