Brewers: Taylor Named Team’s Mostly Likely Candidate for 2021 ROY

MLB.com recently picked Tyrone Taylor as the Brewers prospect who they think has the best chance to win Rookie of the Year in 2021.

Brewers fans likely went into the 2020 season expecting some hardware from awards season to come the team’s way after all was said and done. Out of all of the possible awards, Rookie of the Year was probably thought to be one of the least likely, though.

Well whether anyone expected it or not, that trophy on the NL side made its way to Milwaukee when Devin Williams was named NL Rookie of the Year last week. It made him just the third winner in franchise history and the first since Ryan Braun 13 years ago.

Of course as every award gets handed out it becomes time to look at next year’s possible awards candidates. MLB.com gave a little assist in that regard recently when they selected one prospect from every team who they thought was most likely to compete for the award in 2021.

Milwaukee’s representative on this list is 2012 2nd-round pick Tyrone Taylor, the team’s No. 21 prospect per MLB Pipeline. Though he has a good chance at playing a role on the team in 2021, making it all the way to Rookie of the Year is probably an uphill climb.

Unless something changes with the Brewers’ roster, Tyrone Taylor’s chances at winning the team’s second straight NL Rookie of the Year award are slim.

Taylor’s low odds to win Rookie of the Year aren’t necessarily an indictment on his playing abilities. The 26-year-old is on the team’s top 30 prospects list, after all, and has some decent stat lines to his name so far in his career.

Taylor is a career .269/.327/.411 hitter in the minors with 67 homers and 89 steals in 785 games and can play all three outfield positions. MLB Pipeline gives him grades of either 50 or 55 for all of his tools except power, where they grade him out at a 40.

Williams showed in 2020 that even mid-level prospects can turn things around and become a star seemingly out of nowhere. But Taylor’s biggest obstacle to a 2021 Rookie of the Year award might not be talent so much as playing time.

The Brewers are as set at outfield as any position with Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, and Avisail Garcia all under contract for 2021. To even get time as a backup outfielder could require the team to non-tender fellow outfielder Ben Gamel, a move that could actually have a good chance of happening.

Even if that did happen, there aren’t many Rookie of the Year awards that go to backup outfielders. That’s why Taylor’s inclusion on MLB.com’s list may be more indicative of Milwaukee’s lack of MLB-ready talent in the minors than anything.

The other main rookies on the team with a high chance of receiving playing time in 2021 would probably be relievers Drew Rasmussen and Justin Topa. While Williams won the award as a reliever in 2020, it will be much more difficult for a reliever to win it again in 2021 against position players taking part in a (hopefully) full 162-game season.

A second straight NL Rookie of the Year may not be in the cards for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2021. Stranger things have been known to happen, though. Just look at 2020.