Taylor is the fourth Beaver to earn Position Player of the Year honors, joining Brandon Pietrzyk (2010), Neil Marshall (2016), and Bryce Rheault (2019). The Beavers have also won the league MVP award three times prior to the awards being split in 2008 to honor a pitcher and a position player. Previous Buena Vista MVP honorees include; Pat McMullen (1970), Jeff Trost (1975, 1976), Dale Knight (1980), and Nick Beard (2002). Taylor, a catcher for the Beavers, started all 24 conference games, carrying a bat with a lot of pop this season, hitting a conference-best 14 doubles and tied for second with three triples, while also picking up two home runs. Hitting a league-best .438, the freshman’s bat was a consistent threat for opposing pitchers facing Buena Vista, maintaining a .513 on-base percentage and .708 slugging percentage. Taylor tied for second best in the league with 29 runs batted in (RBI), sat third in hits (42), and fourth in runs scored (27).
