Chris Taylor on roster depth 2023 Dodgers Fan Fest
30 Video Views·Feb 4, 2023
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Chris thanks for being with us I know it's been a very busy
offseason for you it seems like the last several years we've had
a bunch of your teammates getting married this year was
your turn. Congratulations to you and Mary tell us about your
big day in Hawaii and also a pretty fabulous honeymoon you
guys took as well. Yeah thank you it was beautiful we got
married in Mary's hometown in Hawaii and we got lucky it
didn't the rain held off for us it was like a hurricane the
next day so I feel very fortunate that the weather held
up. And then you went to Australia? We did. Did some cool
things down there? Yeah we went to Australia for nine days we
saw the Great Barrier Reef, did the Daintree Rainforest and
Sydney. Oh wow. Wow. Did you guys take the koala bear home
with you guys? Yeah no we tried to keep it as a service animal
but they didn't let us. They didn't let you? No. Well
speaking of this offseason you had that but I also want to
know how's the body how was the body holding up this offseason
I know last year you dealt with some injuries here and there
but are those all in the past were you able to get a good
offseason workout? Yeah no right now I feel 100% I'm pretty
fortunate to be local and I get to work out here at Dodger
Stadium and have access to all our training staff here so they
make sure I'm ready to go. You know CT you came up as a short
stop you know through the minor leagues in Seattle and then
obviously over here with the Dodgers but you've really
transitioned nicely in my opinion one of the best
super utility players I've seen you can play center, short,
third, anywhere. What's it like as far as your preparation
spring training making sure you get enough reps at each
position? Yeah just like you said just getting the reps in. I
think every day you have to take those pregame reps seriously
you have to put that much more work in to make sure you're
bouncing around to each of the spots. In the outfield I like
to just take balls live off the bat and batting practice. You
know a lot of guys are kind of just like casually out there
catching fly balls and for me those are my game reps. You
know I like to take ground balls with the infielders in our
prep routine and then during BP I try to get my reps in the
outfield. I saw some video clips of you taking swings during
this offseason Chris to my very untrained eye it looks like
you're doing maybe something a little different with your
swing. Is there anything different at all about your
swing as we look toward 2023? Yeah a little bit just trying
to clean some things up. Obviously didn't have the year I
wanted to have last year I was kind of grinding through the
whole season and started hitting almost right away as soon as
the season ended this year. I got in the cage with my hitting
coach Robert's been working with me a lot and just trying to
clean things up get a little closer to like 2020-21. You
know we talked about your versatility and you playing all
sorts of positions but you we have some young guys here that
they're actually asking to maybe change some positions or that
they potentially can play numerous positions here. What's
the advice you can give maybe a guy like Miguel Vargas you know
maybe a young guy like Michael Bush who can also play multiple
positions about this organization and how to prepare.
Yeah I think it's the mentality is the most important thing.
Obviously you got to get the preparation and to get those
reps in like we talked about but just treating every position
like you're a gold glove player at that position. I think it's
easy to fall into a trap of saying I just want to be
adequate at multiple positions and you're a utility player so
you feel like you don't have to be the best player at that
position and that that's not the best mentality to have. I think
whether you're playing second base left field center field
whatever position you're playing you have to convince yourself
that I'm a gold glover at this position and I think that
creates the right aggressive mentality you need. I love that
mindset. You know some people have that outwardly and obviously
has inwardly the confidence. Speaking of your confidence
you've made incredible plays both defensively and offensively
in the postseason. Talk us or walk us through your mindset in
the postseason when there's a ball hitting the gap and you've
got to chase it down in front of fifty thousand people or if
you're up to bat in front of fifty five thousand people how
can you calm yourself down to able able to execute your game
plan. Yeah it's not always easy. You know when the moment gets
bigger I think the as much as you can simplify the game it is
probably the most beneficial. You know I think we have a
tendency to try to do more when the game gets bigger. You know
the moment gets bigger and so I try to do the opposite and just
try to do less and keep it as simple as I can. I think no more
used to say you let the moment rise to you. You don't rise to
the moment and that sounds a lot like what Chris Taylor has done
certainly in the postseason CT. Aside from getting married and
going to Australia you had a busy offseason in that you were
doing two charity events you did the CT three foundation event in
Virginia Beach and also the one at Topgolf and El Segundo. How
did both of those events go. Because it looked like from all
the pictures and everything that I read that they were both a
smashing success. They were. They were great. We raised a lot
of money which is the most important thing. We got got to
meet a lot of kids a lot of Dodger fans. You know I think
everybody had a great time at the events. If you've never been
to Topgolf it's a blast. Yeah. You don't have to be good at
golf either which is the beautiful thing. And yeah for
for our first L.A. event we were super excited. We had a great
turnout. And what what has this community meant to you. I mean
you know you see that you're giving back to that but what
really has it has it meant. Yeah. I mean there's a reason I
moved here. You know we love it here in L.A. and it's my new
home. So you know I fell in love with L.A. the moment I got
here. And it's a dream come true to play here at Dodger Stadium
and you know live not too far away at the beach. And I mean
you guys know how great it is down there. So that's why we're
neighbors. So that means you're going to start surfing to live
in on the beach. Oh I've been there. He's been there. I just
got here. I just got here. Surfing is the thing now. Yeah.
That's the thing. I started in Virginia Beach. OK. And then I
moved out here and the waves were way better than they were.
Well Jerry you missed a lot during the offseason. You also
missed when when C.T. came in studio came in studio with us.
Not only that. No more would have hated this. We had Chris
Taylor break down a top 10 of his top 10 plays. No more would
have hated this. Jerry would have loved it. We just wouldn't
have had it. We would have. We wouldn't have been able to come
up with you guys. But we had 10 plays of Chris. Now was that as
awful for you to experience and have to go through and talk
about yourself and 10 different places. Yeah it's not easy. I
tried to let you do most of the talk. But then you saw the
plays like man I'm pretty good. Right. There's that gold glove
mentality. Yeah. Confidence booster to see highlights of
yourself. Jerry knows that's why he plays it on loop all the
time. I go in the closet at the Sportsnet LA studios right there
around 2 2 3. That's why sometimes I'm you know 30
minutes late. Yeah. I'm watching the highlights. It's a
quick two minutes. He literally has them one swipe away. Every
highlight that he could ever want in his career. One swipe
away on his phone. Yeah. He could show you. Chris Taylor
thank you so much for joining us today and here's to a very
successful 2023 season. Thank you so much. Thank you guys.