All in: Dutch Fork’s Will Taylor to stay at Clemson, pass on pro baseball
Will Taylor was a potential first-round Major League Baseball draft pick. He will instead be a Clemson Tiger for the next few years.
“Will is All In for Clemson,” Eddie Taylor, Will’s father, told The State on Monday.
By bypassing on pro baseball out of high school, Taylor will have to wait three years to be part of the MLB Draft again. Taylor will play baseball and football for the Tigers and has been on campus since June 24.
Most mock drafts had Taylor going into the first round — which would have meant between a $2 million and $4 million signing bonus — but his name was never called as he watched with friends and family in Clemson for Sunday’s first round and then Monday with rounds two through 10.
A lucrative payday and chance to play professional baseball right away wasn’t enough to convince Taylor to pass up on his dream of playing for the Tigers. It was unclear how much Taylor was asking MLB teams for as a signing bonus to lure him away from college.
Bubba Chandler, another two-sport Clemson signee, was picked in the third round by the Pittsburgh Pirates and said he will sign to play professional baseball.
And the Texas Rangers still used a 19th round draft pick Tuesday to select Taylor. It’s not unusual for high-profile prospects to be drafted in later rounds even though they plan to attend college. The Yankees did that with Jack Leiter in 2019 when he went in the 20th round. Leiter went to Vanderbilt and was a first-round pick in this year’s draft.
The Rangers have Taylor’s rights until Aug. 1, the last day for players to sign, but would lose them if he doesn’t sign.
“The Rangers are an amazing organization. We spent a day with them a few weeks ago that none of us will ever forget. Will is a Tiger and plans to remain one until the 2024 draft,” Eddie Taylor said Tuesday.
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney and baseball coach Monte Lee did a good job selling Taylor on being a Tiger. Taylor attended Clemson’s spring football game in March and spent a day on campus earlier this summer, with half the time spent with Lee and the other half with Swinney.
“The trip up to Clemson was great. I sat down with coach Lee and coach Swinney and talked more about what my schedule there would look like, how I would balance both sports,” Taylor said in May. “I’m just getting ready for whatever is next.”
Eddie Taylor in May said the bond the Clemson program had with his son was very impressive.
“Clemson gets an A-plus for dream building with these kids, not just my son,” Eddie Taylor said. “Built a dream with kids to put on the orange and play on the baseball or football field. If I woke him up in the middle of night, I guarantee you he is thinking about running down the hill at Memorial Stadium and stealing bases at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
“If you ask me right now, I would say Will is going to Clemson, going to play two sports and he is going to have a blast. But we will see if baseball comes in and derails that.”
It never did.
Swinney had high praise of Taylor when he signed with the Tigers back in December. The coach said Taylor has a chance to be a promising receiver despite playing quarterback in high school at Ben Lippen and Dutch Fork.
“We expect him to move to wideout, and I really do think that he’s got a chance to be elite as a receiver, really special,” Swinney said. “We’re going to take him this first year and we’re going to really teach him as a quarterback, and then the plan is to move him. But again, he’ll always have that foundation in play.”
Taylor has been working out at quarterback and slot receiver at Clemson’s player-run practices this summer. He threw for 2,237 yards, 21 touchdowns while rushing for 448 yards and 11 scores in helping Dutch Fork to its fifth straight Class 5A football championship this year.
In baseball, Taylor hit .450 with seven homers, 33 RBIs and 34 runs scored this season for the Silver Foxes, who advanced to Class 5A district championship. He also stole 21 bases and had on-base percentage of .586 and an OPS of 1.455 and was named S.C. Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year.
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 4:44 PM.
