Ian Taylor heading to Toronto Blue Jays

Guerin Catholic star signs undrafted free agent contract

By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com

After Ian Taylor signed a contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, he called Dave Schrage, the Guerin Catholic baseball coach.

“Coach, what a year I had,” said Taylor.

It would be hard for anyone to top Taylor’s year. He graduated from Guerin Catholic, helped the Golden Eagles win their first ever state championship, then put his name on an undrafted free agent contract with the Blue Jays earlier this week.

“Ian has wanted to pursue this and it was one of his goals,” said Schrage. “He worked extremely hard on his strength and conditioning to try to hit more home runs. That came to fruition for him. It’s great to see when you have a really great kid.”

Taylor threw has hat in the ring for the Major League Baseball Draft, which took place July 11 and 12. Schrage said there were “two or three teams that had reached out to me and also to his family just to see.”

Taylor was not drafted, “and when that didn’t happen, I know they were pretty disappointed,” said Schrage.

But it wasn’t the end. Toronto was one of the teams that showed an interest in Taylor, then contacted him to see if he wanted to sign an undrafted free agent contract. And he did.

“He got a really good deal,” said Schrage.

Taylor, 18, had committed to play baseball at George Mason University last August, but will now forego college to pursue his dream.

“I’m sure he’ll be at their spring training facility, to finish out the rest of the summer and then they’ll place him somewhere next year in the organization. It’ll be a great chance for him to  grow and develop as a player.”

“ We’re extremely proud of Ian Taylor’s growth and ability as a part of the baseball program,” said Guerin Catholic athletic director Ryan Davis. “He’s been an outstanding member of our program and wish him the very best moving forward. The Blue Jays are getting a great kid with high character and high ability.”

Taylor helped the Golden Eagles to a 28-3-1 record and the Class 3A state title. For the season, Taylor led Guerin Catholic with nine home runs and 44 runs scored, and was second on the team with 35 base hits, 36 RBIs and a .412 average.