Meet The New Guy: Tayler Scott

Who is he and where did he come from?

He’s Tayler Scott. He was bullpen-mates with Ryan Brasier in the Dodgers’ organization after several years in the Cubs’ minor league system, and then he got promoted to Los Angeles, played pretty badly in six innings of work, amassing an ERA of 9.00, and was waived by the team. We picked the 31-year-old up and optioned him to Worcester. Life comes at you fast!

What position does he play?

We never can have enough relief depth, apparently, especially depth with Major League experience. He has 34 ¹⁄₃ innings with the Mariners, Orioles, Padres, and Dodgers, with a double-digit ERA, though... but hey, Worcester needs arms for when Worcester’s bullpen gets called up to Boston... right?

Is he any good?

10.75 ERA. xFIP of 6.07, which is, uh, slightly better. Almost 2 home runs per 9 given up. 19% strikeout rate, 11% walk rate. Safe to say, the answer here is “no.” But, Scott is exceptional in Triple-A, hosting an ERA lower than 2, even if his walk rate is very high. He’s also known to strike out a guy or two - or ten - over nine innings. He fits the profile of “depth signing” well, and we could have signed worse, especially off waivers.

Show me a cool highlight.

This is Scott making TJ Hopkins guess on a pitch way outside. This was a low leverage situation, but Scott can sit guys down.

What’s he doing in his picture up there?

Trying to memorize as many names on the Red Sox’ roster as he can before he was placed on waivers by Los Angeles, pleading to never have to face his fellow Dodgers J.D. Martinez or Mookie Betts once he’s on the other side.

What’s his role on the 2023 Red Sox?

I’ve written this a few times, but this was a depth signing in the place of John Schreiber, Joely Rodriguez, and Ryan Sherriff all being out a bit longer than anticipated, and Justin Garza, Corey Kluber, and some other guys not being as good as anticipated. He’ll likely be in Worcester for all but a couple of innings, unless we see some more relief injuries, but I’ll cross my fingers and knock on wood that we don’t have to dig deeper into this organizational depth to see Scott on a Major League mound.... unless, of course, we get the strikeouts without being hit hard!