Chris Taylor earns spot on NL All-Star team

Former Virginia baseball star Chris Taylor is an All-Star for the first time in his MLB career. The do-it-all player for the Los Angeles Dodgers was picked as a reserve to the All-Star roster in his eighth season. He’s the third Virginia player to make an All-Star game appearance, joining 2x All-Stars Sean Doolittle and Ryan Zimmerman.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Dodger manager Dave Roberts has been campaigning for his utility man to earn the honor, saying that Roberts argued “...that his versatility and offensive contributions are often overlooked.”

Taylor is one of three Los Angeles players to make the game, joined by teammates Max Muncy and Mookie Betts. Over the course of the season, Taylor has played — and started in — six different positions on the diamond: centerfield, right field, left field, second base, shortstop, and third base.

He’s batting .269 with 42 RBI through 78 games this season. Taylor also has 10 home runs so far this season, and a slugging percentage of .836.

“It’s a dream come true,” Taylor told the Los Angeles Times.

Taylor played for Virginia from 2009-12, helping the Hoos make the College World Series in 2011 with a dramatic walk-off hit against UC Irvine in the Super Regionals. He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the fifth round of the 2012 MLB Draft. Taylor was traded to the Dodgers in June of 2016, and he has helped LA make the World Series in 2017 and 2018 before they won it all in 2020.

The All-Star game is Tuesday, July 13, at 7:30pm.