We’ve been doing this article series since at least 2017. I hope we’ve been doing it only since 2017 so this next sentence is true. Every year we’ve previewed Non-Roster Invitees, we’ve written a profile about Corey Taylor. So here’s to preview for Taylor #3!
The first year we profiled him, we wrote this:
However, and stop me if you heard this before for non-roster invites, his numbers have been impressive in the minors and forced the issue that we need to talk about him. In his first season in Brooklyn he tossed 18.0 innings over 18 games with a 1.50 ERA with 16 K’s and a 1.000 WHIP. Pretty good.
And then last year we wrote this:
This is still the case for Taylor. His numbers returned to Earth last year but he went from working in St. Lucie to putting a whole season in Binghamton… Last year in Binghamton he posted a 3.61 ERA, 1.332 WHIP in 62.1 innings.
Well it looks like he took another step forward in the minors last year. He went back to Binghamton to start the season and posted a 2.41 ERA, 1.439 WHIP in 29 games and 41.0 innings. Then he got promoted to Las Vegas where he posted a 4.26 ERA, 1.421 WHIP over 25.1 innings. His ERA responded positively while his WHIP did the opposite, which is usually a bad sign. He still took a step forward in my opinion because Mets pitchers were performing awful in Vegas.
Let’s see what he does this year! He is starting to get older so he strikes me as a pitcher the Mets wouldn’t mind rushing to the majors to become an extra arm if needed. He’ll probably get an extended look in Spring and if it wasn’t for BWV’s overhaul of the pen, we would be 100% confident that he would find his way to the 40 man and see some time in Queens this year.
