i9s

Career Batting:

.272 BA .330 OBP .360 SLG. 59 HR. 8,915 PA.

(1907-1929)

I think there are a few things that tend to inflate a player’s reputation that operate in the case of Candy Jim Taylor. First, there is the sustained excellence of his brother Ben; second, there is the length of his career and his success as a manager.

If you look at his career absent those influences, I think you end up with a slightly-above-average third baseman. No worse than that, but also no better.

Taylor’s career is a little odd, regardless of how strong you think it was: he had very few average years, either hitting very well or very poorly. It makes projecting his usage very challenging, as it’s not clear how long, for example, teams would stick with him after 1918 when, as a 33 year old, he starts a five year run as a below average hitter. His career could easily end in 1921, when we have him slashing 248/295/333.

If he sticks around, he probably makes it until the late 1920s, although at a steeply dwindling number of plate appearances. Again, 1926 could be his final year, but if he makes it to his highly productive 1927, he’d probably get the chance to hit a little in 1928 and 1929. That’s as far as we can see stretching his career (in real life, he found a handful of at bats most years into his early 50s, something we just can’t rationalize).

Taylor had decent power (mostly doubles and homeruns) and a little speed, and would draw the occasional walk. He struck out quite a bit, and even more over the final third of his career, with that stat being likely his only appearance on league leaderboards.

Defensively, he was above average, but never approaching gold glove level. He filled in occasionally elsewhere, but spent the vast majority of his time at the hot corner.

I could be convinced I’m being too hard on Candy Jim; if so, I could see him gaining another 20ish points of OPS in future projections, mainly from a higher BA and some more triples.

Name	Candy Jim Taylor (Candy)
ID / Status	taylor000can / Draft
Pos	3B
DOB / i9s Career	02/01/1884 / 1904 - 1919
Birthplace	Anderson, SC (USA)
Height / Weight	5'5" / 165
B / T	R / R

 

Batting Projections

Year	Age	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1907	23	114	25	3	1	0	12	23	4	2	.219	.294	.263	.557
1908	24	226	60	7	2	0	13	36	10	3	.265	.305	.314	.619
1909	25	402	132	13	5	3	37	54	20	8	.328	.385	.408	.793
1910	26	175	42	10	1	1	11	33	6	2	.240	.285	.326	.611
1911	27	307	109	19	5	5	38	38	16	7	.355	.426	.498	.924
1912	28	313	74	14	5	1	20	39	13	4	.236	.282	.323	.605
1913	29	557	144	26	7	1	37	77	26	8	.259	.305	.336	.641
1914	30	516	139	26	6	6	49	83	55	10	.269	.333	.378	.711
1915	31	600	177	21	7	4	55	76	31	13	.295	.354	.373	.727
1916	32	582	154	24	7	2	49	87	51	7	.265	.322	.340	.662
1917	33	529	145	28	8	4	52	65	38	6	.274	.339	.380	.719
1918	34	589	133	19	5	3	59	53	22	6	.226	.296	.290	.586
1919	35	535	131	16	8	0	50	66	20	6	.245	.309	.305	.614
1920	36	538	137	17	6	3	49	61	43	21	.255	.317	.325	.642
1921	37	556	138	19	8	4	37	46	13	6	.248	.295	.333	.628
1922	38	404	104	24	6	3	31	41	6	4	.257	.310	.369	.679
1923	39	434	157	20	5	11	38	51	10	6	.362	.413	.507	.920
1924	40	359	117	14	5	1	34	38	11	5	.326	.384	.401	.785
1925	41	140	33	7	2	2	13	17	2	1	.236	.301	.357	.658
1926	42	159	38	9	1	4	13	15	1	1	.239	.297	.384	.681
1927	43	83	30	3	1	1	6	17	1	1	.361	.404	.458	.862
1928	44	68	13	2	0	0	3	14	0	0	.191	.225	.221	.446
1929	45	22	4	0	1	0	1	6	0	0	.182	.217	.273	.490
TOTALS		8,208	2,236	341	102	59	707	1,036	399	127	.272	.330	.360	.690

 

Pitching Projections