Ex-Butler basketball standout Taylor’s son building promising baseball career
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Like father, like son? Almost.
Lamont Taylor, a 1995 Butler graduate, was a standout basketball player for the Golden Tornado. His son, Nate, is entering his senior year at Buford High School in Georgia and is a stellar athlete there.
“No basketball for him, though,” Taylor said of his son.
Not when you can pitch a baseball like his son can.
The 6-foot-2, 205 pound Nate Taylor is a right-hander who's throwing a 96 miles per hour fastball right now. He also throws a slider and changeup and gets hitters out at an alarming rate.
“He attacks hitters, goes right at them,” Lamont Taylor said. “He’s not afraid to pitch to contact.”
This past spring, Taylor struck out 196 and walked only 14 in 71 innings pitched. He is in Phoenix, Ariz., this weekend for the 21st annual Perfect Game All-American Classic. He was one of 250 high school players invited to participation in as Perfect Game USA camp recently.
From there, he was among 60 players from all over the country invited to this weekend’s festivities in Phoenix. The players there will compete in an all-star game on Sunday.
“I don’t believe in trying to hit the corners because that affects how you throw the ball,” Nate Taylor said. “I just want to fill up the zone, get ahead in the count. If a pitch starts out in the zone, then leaves it, that's all the better.
“The most important thing for me it pitch ability, maintaining my composure. I have the same mind-set whether I strike somebody out, give up a home run or someone makes an error behind me. None of that changes who I am on the mound.”
What he is on the mound is a force.
Nate has been pitching since he was 8 years old. He stopped playing basketball after his freshman year in high school “when I realized my future was in baseball.” He was first team All-Gwinnett County and first team all-state in Georgia this past spring.
He plays first base on days he’s not pitching in high school. Once he graduates, he will be strictly a pitcher.
Nate had verbally committed to Georgia Tech, but has since de-committed.
“They had a coaching change there, so he opted out,” his father said.
A nationwide recruit, Nate has narrowed his choices to Auburn, Georgia, Texas and South Carolina. He plans to visit all four schools in the fall. He plans to major in the marketing or business field.
That’s if he goes to college at all.
Nate recently took part in the East Coast Pro Showcase, pitching for the Georgia-North Florida team in a six-team showcase viewed by hundreds of major league scouts. He figures to be drafted in 2024.
“It’s a business and the scouts won’t tell us when in the draft he might go,” said Tracy Taylor, Nate’s mother. “As a mom, I’m hoping he goes to college, but if he’s drafted high enough and it makes better sense to go pro right away, then that’s how it is.”
Nate has already attended 13 baseball showcase events with a year of high school still to play.
“Velocity is always important,” he said. “Adding a couple of miles per hour this year would help. At this point, I’m not sure if I’ll go to college or accept a draft opportunity. With NILs now in play, I guess you do what makes the best sense.”
That’s down the road yet. For now, Nate Taylor is just enjoying the weekend.
“This is an awesome experience,” he said of the Perfect Game All-American Classic. “We’re raising money for a Taiwan school out here, there’s a hospitality room where we played a ping-pong tournament and get to know each other ... It’s cool meeting and talking with players from California, China, all over the place.
“Saturday, there’s a home run derby, the game on Sunday. This whole thing is so much fun.”
