HOUSTON — Grant Taylor entered in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game with the Chicago White Sox holding a three-run lead.
The right-hander immediately displayed his blazing fastball with his first pitch as a major leaguer, clocked at 101.5 mph against Victor Caratini.
“First pitch? That’s pretty good,” Taylor said. “Felt good. The juices were flowing, nerves a little out there. Pitches came out good.”
Taylor poured in two more fastballs of at least 100 mph (100.8 and 100.3) to Caratini during the six-pitch at-bat before getting the Houston Astros catcher to fly out to center fielder Luis Robert Jr.
Taylor recorded a 1-2-3 inning in his big-league debut, helping the Sox to a 4-2 victory in front of 28,950 at Daikin Park.
“Honestly, it’s kind of surreal,” Taylor said of the outing. “I don’t know if it’s really set in yet. It was pretty cool being out there.”
Of Taylor’s 12 pitches, six reached 100 mph. Two groundouts followed the flyout.
“That’s exciting,” manager Will Venable said. “Good spot for him, he came in and filled up the zone. Obviously it’s big stuff and yeah, he passed the test.”
Taylor followed another fantastic start by Shane Smith, who allowed one run on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks in six innings.
Robert had big moments offensively — an RBI double in the second and a solo home run in the fourth — and defensively with a run-saving sliding catch in the eighth.
“Both,” Robert said through an interpreter when asked whether his offense or defense was better Tuesday, “because on both ends I helped the team.”
Rookie Edgar Quero also aided the offense with a two-run single in the third for the Sox (23-44), who have won four of six.
Taylor became the latest rookie to contribute after being called up Tuesday from Double-A Birmingham. Reports of the move surfaced Monday.
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In Tuesday’s corresponding move, the Sox designated pitcher Bryse Wilson for assignment. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 6.95 ERA in 19 games (five starts) after signing a one-year deal with the Sox in the offseason.
Before the game, Taylor said it was “a little bit of shock, a lot of excitement,” when he found out that he would be joining the major-league club.
“It means the world (to be here),” Taylor said.
Taylor, 23, produced eye-popping results at Birmingham, where he had a 1.01 ERA, a .135 opponents average (including zero home runs allowed), 0.86 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 15 games (six starts). He is the No. 6 prospect in the Sox system according to MLB.com.
On Friday, general manager Chris Getz said Taylor’s stuff has been “nothing short of explosive.”
Taylor has made nine straight scoreless appearances since moving to the bullpen on May 14, allowing three hits with one walk and 18 strikeouts over 9 1/3 innings.
“A little bit different,” Taylor said of the relief work. “Not as planned out. You don’t have the five-day rest. It’s the same job, just shorter stints.”
The Sox selected the right-hander in the second round of the 2023 draft out of LSU. He missed the 2023 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and had a 1.13 ERA last year with Class A Kannapolis, striking out 25 in 16 innings during a season affected by a lat injury.
“The past two years have definitely been a long road,” Taylor said. “A lot of adversity with Tommy John (surgery), a lat injury, a little bit of uncertainty of what’s going to happen, how am I going to feel when I come back. I feel great now, and I feel like it’s made me a better man, a better player, a better teammate.”
Getz said on Friday that he sees Taylor’s role evolving over time.
“We had to manage his innings regardless this year based on his history,” Getz said. “Obviously it’s a very talented arm and there’s different ways to develop players. We know that although we’ve got him in shorter stints right now, we’re certainly not closing the door on him being a starter in the future.
“You look at as close of an example as (former Sox pitcher) Garrett Crochet and his bullpen days and then transitioning to be a starter and what that has done for Garrett’s career and has done for the White Sox. As for right now, we’ve got (Taylor) in these shorter stints and I think the most important thing is he’s healthy and he’s performing very well.”
Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star pitcher Paul Skenes, Taylor’s college teammate, was among those to reach out with congratulations on becoming a big leaguer.
“He just said, ‘Hey, heard you got the call up, super happy for you. See you (the first series) after the All-Star break,'” Taylor said.
The Sox have had a wave of promotions during the first two-plus months of the season. Taylor joins a list that also includes infielder Chase Meidroth, first baseman Tim Elko and catchers Quero and Kyle Teel, who each went from Triple A to the majors.
“We’re happy about the support we have for these guys — our coaching staff obviously, but the veteran players and our guys with experience that we have here have done a tremendous job helping these guys get up to speed with all kinds of stuff they are leaning on these guys for,” Venable said before the game.
Taylor quickly shook any butterflies he had for his debut.
“First call to the bullpen, a little bit of nerves,” Taylor said. “But by the time I was running in they had kind of gone away. “Just playing ball again. Halfway through that first at-bat, came back for a second. And then settled down.”
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The result was a perfect inning.
“Ever since I was a kid, this is what I’ve dreamed of doing,” Taylor said. “And I think it was pretty cool to be able to do it here today. Being able to put up a zero — always imagined a zero, so I’m really happy I walked away with one.”