By: Frankie Benvenuti

In his first full season with the Ottawa Titans, Taylor Wright is planning on doing whatever it takes to get on the field as frequently as possible.

The North Vancouver, British Columbia product split time between Ottawa and the IBL’s London Majors in 2022, appearing in 28 games with the Titans, where he drove in 20 runs and found himself on base in a third of his plate appearances.

Wright was originally brought to Ottawa as injury relief when Clay Fisher dislocated his kneecap, and despite his success on the field - both at the dish and in the field - when the wounded returned to the lineup, Manager Bobby Brown decided it best for Wright to return to London midway through the campaign.

“It was disappointing, for sure,” Wright admitted. “At the end of the day, I took a lot away from [my time in Ottawa] that I was able to apply to my game back in London. The most disappointing part was going from a league that plays every day to one where you play three days a week, there’s just not as much baseball.”

Back in London, Wright saw 25 games worth of action, in which time he hit an eye-popping .385, driving in 25 runs.

His success in the IBL continued into the postseason, where the Majors played for the Dominico Cup. In game six, London trailed the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 7-3 as they entered the top of the ninth inning. The Majors rallied to tie the game up, setting the stage for Wright with a runner on third.

Having already homered on the night, Wright sent a ball deep enough into the outfield to drive home the game-winning run, earning the Majors their second-consecutive title, and eighth overall.

Throughout the entire journey, Wright’s focus was on learning, regardless of where he was playing baseball.

“Last year was about learning the ropes at the pro level,” Wright said. “I was on a good team in London, and I got to play with a lot of former pros, and getting the time in Ottawa in the middle of the season was a really good experience to see how professionals approach the game.”

As the days tick down before his 26th birthday, Wright’s time to make the jump to pro ball is now. Still, he’s taking 2023 as another opportunity to learn from the veterans around him, including Ivan Marin, who played for Nicaragua at the World Baseball Classic, Jackie Urbaez, and AJ Wright.

“The most important thing that I’m going to learn from those guys is how to get through the grind of playing six days a week for fourth months at a time,” Wright shared. “You’ve got to be mentally and physically ready, and you have to be prepared to play a baseball game every day.”

Wright says that there’s plenty of talent in the infield, and it will make things difficult to earn playing time, but he’s confident in his ability to play in the outfield if needed, but interestingly, his experience playing in junior college and summer ball could allow for even more versatility.

In junior college, Wright says he pitched about 70 innings in two seasons, and then threw a handful more while playing summer ball in Medicine Hat. This rare skillset to do both hit and pitch has already won him some extra playing time, throwing a pair of regular-season innings, and seeing some time in the preseason.

“It’s weird being one of the guys that’s able to do both, because how much of each you do depends on what team you’re on,” Wright said. “When you’re one of the guys that’s in that bucket, you go through periods where you might not pitch at all, then a few weeks later, the team really needs you to.”

Wright never thought he would see the mound playing professional baseball, but in his very first outing, he sat down two batters with strikeouts, and allowed just one run in two innings of work. 

For the time being, Brown says that Wright is mostly an emergency pitcher, but you never know when someone may go down with an injury and more be required. Regardless of current status, no good manager would close the door on any possibility too early.

“We’ll see,” Brown said. “Maybe he can become a pitcher in this league, we’ll see. He’s got a good arm, so you never know, maybe this is the way his career can take off.”