The Julio Rodríguezes of the world have no trouble drawing fans. Nor the J.P. Crawfords, Cal Raleighs, George Kirbys. The best players draw people in because they give fans the most to cheer for. But there’s also a type of fan who’s drawn to marginal players. These fans go wild for the backup catchers, utility guys, and mid-inning relievers. Samad Taylor is their kind of player.
Cleveland took him in the tenth round of the 2016 Draft and gave up on him pretty quickly. Not that tenth-round picks are ever that highly coveted, but even though he’d been playing well in Low-A, they moved on from him just a year later, trading him to Toronto for Joe Smith.