Rays former 1st-rounder can be a forgotten man, but a position change could boost his value

What an embarrassment of riches; Brayden Taylor, the Rays' 1st round pick in 2023, who's been a great hitter at all 4 levels he's played, was considered their 5th most talented prospect by FanGraphs heading into 2024.

Carson Williams, Junior Caminero, Xavier Isaac and Tre' Morgan all rightly get a lot of attention from prospect blogs and Rays fans.

However, Taylor has torn it up so far in his professional career, and his upside could speak to a super valuable infielder if he continues to produce as he moves up the ranks, especially if he's willing and able to make a position change over the next few seasons.

The former TCU Horned Frog was selected 19th overall in 2023 due to his super high floor as a solid college bat without any super loud tools but no real weakness, either.

He's got a wonderful swing from the left side of the box and can play a solid third base, filling in at short every now and then.

Luckily, with the aforementioned Williams being one of the best prospects in baseball, Taylor's average athleticism won't force him to try to make things work at short and he can be comfortable at the hot corner as he continues his journey in professional baseball.

Nevertheless, Taylor's big draw for the Rays was his bat, as he posted above a 1.000 OPS in all three of his seasons at TCU and had over a 140 wRC+ during his time in A and A+. The Utah native also had a 113 mark in that category over 30 games and 125 plate appearances with the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits.

He achieved this success with excellent plate discipline and enough power to make it work, as he knocked out 14 homers in 84 games at the A+ level in 2024.

Despite his "only" 50-grade speed according to MLB.com, he also swiped 26 bags at the A+ level last year.

The question with Taylor is, would he have a better route to the majors if he tried playing more second base?

Taylor has played 19 games and a little over 170 innings of error-free ball at second across A+ and AA. With the Rays hopeful that Junior Caminero will be a franchise cornerstone player, Taylor would be well served to make the transition to a different infield position.

His athletic profile isn't going to wow people enough to make him a Gold Glover at second, but FanGraphs gives Taylor a future value of 70 with his fielding ability. Therefore the idea that he could be at least an average second baseman defensively isn't far-fetched by any means, and the Rays would benefit from his presence in the everyday lineup.