FAYETTEVILLE — A term from baseball’s olden days seems to fit Arkansas’ best relief pitcher in 2022.
Evan Taylor is the Razorbacks’ fireman.
When Arkansas is in a bind, it is the left-handed Taylor who is called upon to douse the flames. In his 16 relief appearances, Taylor has entered the game eight times with runners on base. The opposing team hasn’t scored in any of those innings.
Entering the Razorbacks’ series against Ole Miss, Taylor has Arkansas’ lowest WHIP (0.64) and batting average against (.132) among pitchers with qualifying innings. Taylor is also averaging six strikeouts for every walk, which ranks third for the Razorbacks.
Left handers are batting .042 against him, and right handers are only somewhat better at .182.
Through 20 1/3 innings, Taylor has allowed 4 runs, 9 hits and 4 walks, and has 24 strikeouts. He has factored into three decisions — all wins — and Arkansas has a 13-3 record when he pitches.
“I’d have to say that nobody could have projected that he was going to be this good,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “It’s all evolved because he’s having success, and now he’s got a lot of confidence.
“I’d say he’s exceeded (expectations) up to this point. I don’t see what he’s doing going away at all unless he’s not feeling right.”
Through three seasons, Taylor had a career ERA of 5.52 in 14 2/3 innings, and he rarely pitched in the most meaningful games. Before this season, Taylor had pitched only four times in SEC play, including twice near the end of lopsided games against Alabama, a team from his home state.
Given Taylor’s track record, Van Horn might have surprised those who follow the team by mentioning him prominently during fall practice last year. But coaches saw a different pitcher return to campus in late summer than the one who left in late spring.
It was a transformation that began with a frank conversation between Van Horn and Taylor before Taylor left for summer ball in Maryland last year.
“Coach Van Horn challenged him — just straight up challenged him — and Evan has risen to the occasion,” Arkansas pitching coach Matt Hobbs said earlier this season. “You want to see that as a coach. I’m super excited about what Evan is doing for us and it gives you a really, really tough left-handed option to hit, and also a guy with stuff that can strike you out. It’s certainly a big lift for the bullpen that he’s pitching the way he is.”
Taylor said he was not happy with his performance to that point in his career. He said he wanted to tell himself he should be pitching more, but the results told a different story. He realized he wasn’t giving coaches a reason to put him in a game.
“I was tired of not pitching and not being very good,” Taylor recalled of his conversation with Van Horn. “He wasn’t happy with me having good stuff and throwing hard and being left handed, and not being a piece to the puzzle.
“We kind of both agreed that in order for me to pitch, something’s got to change. I had to start focusing on throwing strikes and competing in the zone rather than just throwing it as hard as I can and hoping they swing at it.”
Taylor pitched in seven games for the Razorbacks last season, and only twice after March. He was thrilled to be on a great team and for his teammates’ success, but grew frustrated watching games from the dugout.
“He was sick of being just another guy on the team,” Hobbs said. “I think he had to watch that team last year play really well and know he potentially could have been the missing piece to the whole thing. It’s a good arm, it’s really good stuff and I think Evan is a pretty tough kid. He’s kind of been through a lot here in terms of trying to make a bunch of adjustments.”
The biggest adjustment for Taylor has been a change to pitching from a lower arm slot. He was an over-the-top pitcher when he arrived on campus before the 2019 season, but had trouble throwing strikes from that release point.
Over time he gradually dropped his arm slot. He found success throwing for the Frederick (Md.) Keys in the MLB Draft League last summer, where he posted a 3.60 ERA in 20 innings over 8 appearances, including 4 starts. He struck out nearly twice as many batters as he walked, and his 1.65 WHIP was respectable.
When he returned to Fayetteville last fall, he succeeded getting outs against his teammates, too.
“He’s always had good stuff,” Van Horn said. “We’ve had trouble hitting him, and now he’s taking it to the game.”
Hobbs said the lower slot gives Taylor a chance to throw pitches that sink. His pitches are almost always low in the strike zone.
“You look at Evan Taylor from when I arrived here (in the fall fo 2018), it’s like a completely different person in terms of how he throws,” Hobbs said. “He’s made a ton of adjustments along the way to get himself better.”
Taylor struggled with his fastball command early in the season, which led to some inconsistency. His best pitch has been a slider that Hobbs said has good horizontal movement, and the fastball has come around.
Taylor said pitching more often in games helps his command. Where he used to go weeks between seeing the mound on a game day, he has not had more than six days between outings since the beginning of March.
Taylor has pitched twice in three of six SEC weekends, including on back-to-back days against LSU and Texas A&M.
He pitched during the first two games of the LSU series on April 14-16. When Van Horn told him prior to the third game that he needed to take it easy that day, Taylor told the coach his arm felt good and he could throw if needed. He was warming up in the bullpen by the end of the Razorbacks’ 6-2 victory in the series finale, but never entered the game.
“He wants the ball,” Van Horn said. “He’s kind of got a rubbery-type arm. He could give you a couple of outings on the weekend and probably a third if one of those outings was pretty short.”
His outings — and their importance to a game — are starting to become more frequent. Taylor has preserved a lead or tie in the seventh inning or later three times since April 15 — wins over LSU, Texas A&M and Central Arkansas.
Against LSU, Taylor inherited two runners with two outs in the eighth inning. He walked the first batter he faced, but stranded the bases loaded to preserve a 4-0 lead.
Arkansas led 3-1 when he took the mound in the seventh inning at Texas A&M on April 23. The Aggies had two on with one out, but stranded runners on the corners.
On Tuesday, Taylor made a rare midweek appearance as the Razorbacks struggled against UCA. The Bears had two on with two outs in the eighth inning before Taylor induced a pop up on his fourth pitch. He also retired all three batters he faced in the ninth and Arkansas won 2-1 in 10 innings.
Taylor attributed his success in high-stakes situations to quality stuff and a strong mentality.
“I’m confident in the stuff that I’m throwing up there,” he said. “I have confidence that I can throw it for a strike, and when I do that I am going to produce positive results with it.
“I’m not making it bigger than it is. I’m not going to come in and be nervous because there’s a runner on second and third and one out. It’s pretty easy when you boil it down: I just have to come in and get two outs.”
Taylor has been successful putting out fires this year. If an instance arises when that isn’t the case, Van Horn said coaches will still think he was the man for the job.
“He’s shown us the ability to do that and he’s done it time after time,” Van Horn said. “I wouldn’t expect him to be perfect.
“He goes in there and competes hard and he makes the other team earn it for the most part, and that’s what we love about him.”