Taylor Walls returns to the Rays lineup, eager to reinvent himself as a hitter

ST. PETERSBURG — He had, in retrospect, one of the more unusual seasons in major-league history.

In the last 100 years, only three players have ever had a batting average below .175 while staying in a lineup long enough to get at least 450 plate appearances. The first two — Chris Davis and Adam Dunn — were power hitters with fat contracts.

The third was Taylor Walls, who is scheduled to make his spring debut with the Rays Thursday after missing time early in camp with an oblique injury.

Now, there are a couple of ways of looking at that. You could point out the obvious: It was a horrible offensive season for the Rays shortstop. Or you could view it optimistically: Walls is so valuable defensively that he earned every one of those 466 plate appearances.

Walls sees no reason to spin it.

“Defensively, I feel established. Offensively, I know that was the worst season I’ve ever had since I’ve been playing baseball,” Walls said. “Maybe (the Rays) think differently, but for me, offensively, I didn’t do anything to prove that I belonged here.”

That’s probably a little harsh. Walls showed good plate discipline in 2022, finishing third on the team in walks and was second in stolen bases with 10. But the overall point is accurate. If Walls wants playing time in the big leagues, his offense needs major improvement.

And so his agent put him in contact with Twins hitting analyst Dan Hennigan, who runs training site Brain & Barrel outside of Philadelphia. Hennigan began by breaking down Walls’ plate appearances, identifying location, velocity and movement of pitches that Walls struggled with in 2022.

From there, they made minor adjustments to his stance at the plate to hopefully address those problems.

“Just some small (adjustments) that you probably wouldn’t even notice,” Walls said. “Having the arms lifted off the body a little bit. The elbows at not as steep of an angle to try to (swing) a little more flat and direct to the pitch up in the zone.

“Just some setup things and then, from there, it’s just repetition to get comfortable doing it. Try to see how it plays out in the (batting) cage and live at-bats.”

It wasn’t supposed to go that way for Walls in 2022. He was expected to get limited playing time in a utility role, but became Tampa Bay’s starting shortstop when Wander Franco got hurt at two different points in the season.

Walls played elite-level defense (Fangraphs had him tied for fourth in defensive runs saved among shortstops, and his WAR on Baseball Reference was 2.6). But the struggles at the plate became more and more evident as the plate appearances piled up.

“We’ve yet to see anywhere close to the offensive player that Taylor Walls is,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Look at his track record from college (at Florida State) and once he got into pro ball, every level he’s hit. He’s going to hit.

“I think what happened last year (happens) to a lot of young players. He ran into a funk early on, it snowballed and he just couldn’t get out of it … but he deserved to be here throughout all those struggles because of the impact he had on us defensively.”

While he drew 52 walks, Walls felt he failed to capitalize on some at-bats when he had worked a favorable count. His emphasis this season is better pitch recognition and putting the ball in play on a more consistent basis.

“The good version of Taylor Walls, the version we’ve seen at times in the past, gives you a tough at-bat,” general manager Peter Bendix said. “He fouls pitches off, he doesn’t swing at balls out of the zone, he’s just a tough at-bat.”

With Franco back in the lineup, Cash has told Walls to focus on working at third base, although he will likely be the guy giving Franco and second baseman Brandon Lowe time off, too, particularly if the Rays carry six outfielders.

“I know where I stand defensively. I know that I can play every position as good or better than anyone else,” Walls said. “But offensively, I have a lot to prove to myself and, I feel like, to prove to (the Rays). I’m fortunate they keep giving me opportunities, and I know that they believe in me probably, at times, more than I believe in myself. So that’s really good to have that support system.

“It’s what helps keep that positivity, the confidence, the drive and determination to come in and improve every day.”

John Romano can be reached at jromano@tampbay.com. Follow @romano_tbtimes.

• • •

Sign up for the Rays Report weekly newsletter to get fresh perspectives on the Tampa Bay Rays and the rest of the majors from sports columnist John Romano.

Never miss out on the latest with the Bucs, Rays, Lightning, Florida college sports and more. Follow our Tampa Bay Times sports team on Twitter and Facebook.