Former Mariners infielder Chris Taylor retires at 35

Former Seattle Mariners infielder Chris Taylor retired from professional baseball at 35 years old on Friday, according to the MiLB transaction wire.

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Taylor was a fifth-round pick in the 2012 draft by the Mariners out of the University of Virginia. He made his major league debut with Seattle on July 24, 2014.

In 86 games over parts of three seasons (2014-16) with the Mariners, Taylor batted .240 with a .593 OPS and 11 doubles.

Taylor is best known in Mariners lore as being a part of one of the most infamous trades made by Jerry Dipoto after he was hired as general manager in September 2015.

Seattle sent Taylor to the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 19, 2016, in a deal for right-handed pitching prospect and former first-round pick Zach Lee. Taylor broke out with a career-high 21 home runs the next season and went on to carve out a solid 12-year big league career as a super utilityman, helping the Dodgers win two World Series and earning an All-Star nod in 2021. Lee never pitched in a game for the Mariners and was designated for assignment after the 2016 season. He pitched in three games for the San Diego Padres in 2017 and never appeared in the majors again.

During his 10 seasons with the Dodgers, Taylor hit .250 with a .761 OPS and 108 home runs in 1,007 games. He played every position except catcher during his tenure and produced 16.0 bWAR along the way, including surpassing 4.0 bWAR in consecutive years from 2017-18.

Taylor signed with the Los Angeles Angels last season and hit .179 with a .598 OPS and two homers in 30 games. He had appeared in 32 games with the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate Salt Lake Bees this season before retiring.

Taylor played his final professional game on Wednesday against the Mariners’ Triple-A Tacoma affiliate.

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