Taylor swinging hot stick for Shuckers

The hottest bat in the Shuckers' lineup at the moment belongs to outfielder Tyrone Taylor.

Taylor was 15-of-42 over a 10-game stretch entering Tuesday night's game against the Jacksonville Suns in Biloxi. He has three home runs and eight RBIs during that period of time.

In the last five games, Taylor is 9-of-24 with a pair of homers and five RBIs.

Taylor said Tuesday that he's made no major changes at the plate during his recent run of success.

“It's nothing crazy. I've just been staying positive and taking it one pitch at a time,” he said.

Taylor is in his fifth season in the Milwaukee Brewers organization after he was a second-round selection in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft out of Torrance (Calif.) High School.

Taylor dealt with some early struggles this season, but has seen his batting average raise from .219 to .236 over the last 10 games.

“The season is a grind and it gets a little frustrating,” Taylor said. “You just have to stay positive and grind out. It makes it easier when your team is winning.”

The 6-foot, 185-pound Taylor is in his second season at Biloxi after batting .260 with three homers and 43 RBIs in 454 at-bats a year ago.

Taylor has five homers, 20 RBIs and 33 runs scored in 263 at-bats this year.

Taylor, who bats mainly out of the leadoff spot, has an on-base percentage of .300 this season. In his leadoff role, Taylor is doing everything he can to make provide a spark at the top of the batting order.

“I'm a gap-to-gap guy,” Taylor said. “I'm just trying to make good, hard contact. I'm taking what the pitcher gives me.”

Taylor isn't the only Shucker with his batting average on the rise with Brett Phillips and Jacob Nottingham both overcoming some inconsistent at-bats early in the season.

“We've definitely been putting together good at-bats,” Taylor said. “We've been doing it all season, but we haven't had luck having the ball drop. We've all been hitting the ball hard.”

New lineup look

Shuckers manager Mike Guerrero tinkered with the lineup a little bit in Monday night's 5-1 win over Jacksonville.

Instead of putting pitcher Brooks Hall in the usual No. 9 slot in the lineup, Hall batted eighth and left fielder Johnny Davis batted ninth.

The experiment worked out for the Shuckers as Hall registered his first hit of the season, a double to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Davis followed with an infield single and Taylor knocked both men in with his fifth homer of the season to give the Shuckers a 4-0 lead.

Davis, who has spent 20 games in Biloxi this season, adds some speed to the lineup. He is batting .250 with nine runs scored in 76 at-bats with the Shuckers.

This story was originally published July 5, 2016 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Taylor swinging hot stick for Shuckers."