- April 19, 2024
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Jordan Taylor has been a four-year star at Flagler Palm Coast. This year, he’s on pace to shatter the strikeout record. He has also caught the eyes of MLB scouts, too.
It’s March 4. The Flagler Palm Coast Bulldogs are hosting district rival DeLand.
In the bottom of the ninth, the game is tied, 4-4. On second base is FPC’s Lorenzo Butler. In the batter’s box, Jordan Taylor digs in. One out. Count is full at three balls, two strikes. Taylor thinks, All right, the pitcher is a freshman. He’s definitely going to throw me a fastball.
DeLand’s right-handed pitcher checks second base, then he delivers the pitch.
Taylor grooves a deep fly ball. Adios.
“Right off the bat, I knew it was gone,” Taylor recalled Friday, March 25, as he pointed to Portable No. 6, located behind Bulldog Field. The ball smashed off the building, though no windows broke. “Everyone in the crowd erupted. It was nuts,” he said.
Taylor said that was the farthest he has hit a ball at home, and it gave the Bulldogs a walk-off win. But Taylor, a senior Bulldog, doesn’t just help at the plate.
On the mound
When Taylor was a freshman, he got his first varsity start against Palm Beach Gardens, the fourth-ranked high school team in the state at the time. Taylor lasted five innings and gave up four runs while striking out seven.
As a sophomore, Taylor made six starts and also pitched in relief and played outfield.
Following his sophomore year, he had the attention of college scouts from Florida State University and the University of Miami. That summer, he helped his Orlando travel team win the Perfect Game Underclass World Championship. Taylor tossed six innings and struck out nine.
Last year, as a junior, he went 7-1, with 78 strikeouts over 48 ½ innings and a 2.21 earned run average.
Though he’s 2-3 as a starting pitcher this season, pitching coach Jake Hurry said the southpaw has had some tough luck.
The Bulldogs lost to Seabreeze, 2-1, Thursday, March 24. Taylor pitched all seven innings and struck out seven.
Still, Hurry, who pitched in the minor leagues, said Taylor has a bright future.
“As a pitcher … he’s finally learned that he can’t throw everything by everybody,” Hurry said.
But Taylor, primarily a strikeout pitcher, still likes to try.
“I feel like I throw it and sometimes I pitch it,” Taylor said, adding that he still likes to try and “blow people away” with his 91 mph fastball, something that has several Major League Baseball teams very interested, namely the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers. All have been to FPC’s campus to watch Taylor play this season, according to FPC’s coaches.
With strength training and more work, Hurry thinks Taylor could eventually reach the mid-90s with his fastball.
So far this season, Taylor has a 3.10 earned run average with 49 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings. He also hasn’t given up a home run.
In the box
With scouts interested, Taylor knows that if he’s going to play professional baseball, it will be as a pitcher, not a hitter/outfielder. And so, that means he will have to relinquish his favorite part of the game.
“I would miss batting a lot,” he said. “I love hitting and I work on it a lot. It feels like I’m helping my team more when I’m hitting.”
This year, FPC coach Steve Poppe has moved Taylor up to the No. 2 spot in the lineup — a spot Taylor has never seen in his four years. Because of the switch, Taylor has nine stolen bases this season.
Taylor, who has three home runs and is batting .415 this season, has clobbered a ball more than 400 feet this year.
And in the 15th round … ?
Taylor, who was born in Chicago but has lived in Flagler County since he was 5, will have a difficult decision to make when his high school career ends in about a month.
If he enters the Major League Baseball draft, scouts tell him, he could be picked in the first 15 rounds. (There are more than 50 rounds in the MLB draft.) And that’s where Taylor — a Bethune-Cookman University commit — has set the cap.
As of Friday, March 25, Taylor said if he isn’t selected by Round 15, he’ll head to college and play at least one year before trying to re-enter the draft. If he decides to go to a junior college, he only has to play one year, otherwise he’d have to play three years of college before trying the draft again.
“If he gets in the right system, Jordan is the type of kid who puts his mind to it, and he’ll work his butt off,” Poppe said. “When he gets to the next level, I think he’ll blossom.”
Additionally, Poppe said having scouts come to watch his Bulldogs play has only helped his team, adding: “If one guy is getting looked at, everybody is getting looked at. It’s like a springboard because the players know people are watching.”
And even though Taylor knows people are watching, he’s won’t bat an eye. Instead, he’ll bat opposing pitchers right out of the park.
“I’m going to stay close to home,” he said with a smile, trying not to think too hard about the prospect that he could be a professional player in a few months.
“I love home, and I’m not a cocky guy. I’m going to stay humble about the whole situation.”
