Wade Taylor

Wade Eric Taylor (born October 19, 1965 in Mobile, Alabama) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher who played with the New York Yankees in 1991. As of 2015, he is a professional scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks, based in Oviedo, Florida. He has been an advance scout for the Yankees, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers. Taylor played college baseball at the University of Miami. He was drafted twice in 1986, first by the Toronto Blue Jays, and then by the Los Angeles Dodgers, but did not sign with either team. On June 30, 1987, he was signed by the Seattle Mariners as an amateur free agent. He pitched in 12 games for Seattle's Single-A minor league affiliate, the Bellingham Mariners, in 1987. On December 22, 1987, Taylor was traded with Lee Guetterman and Clay Parker to the New York Yankees in exchange for Henry Cotto and Steve Trout. After spending three full years in the Yankees minor league system, Taylor was called up in early June 1991. Taylor started his first game on June 2 against the Milwaukee Brewers. He pitched 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits and four earned runs. He also struck out four Brewers' hitter, pitching well enough to get credited with the win in the Yankees 7-4 defeat of Milwaukee. In 23 games for the Yankees in 1991, Taylor posted a 7-12 win-loss record, a 6.27 earned run average, and struck out 72 batters in 116.1 innings.