Former Minnesota Twins Outfielder Retires

It wasn’t long ago the Byron Buxton was unable to get through a full season. The Minnesota Twins superstar outfielder has dealt with a myriad of injuries over the course of his career. In order to mitigate his absence, the franchise has signed starting-caliber depth.

Among the best of those outfielders to spell Buxton for Minnesota was Michael A. Taylor. The twelve-year veteran spent this season with the Chicago White Sox. After experiencing that level of futility, he has announced his retirement.

Michael A. Taylor hangs up his cleats

In 2023 Byron Buxton was limited to designated hitter duties only. Michael A. Taylor signed with Minnesota as depth, but wound up playing 129 games. He was the every day centerfielder, and helped that team end a decades-long postseason drought. After more than 1,200 major league games, he’s calling it a career.

Micheal A. Taylor officially announced his retirement.

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) September 28, 2025

Across 133 games for the Chicago White Sox this season, Taylor posted a .199/.256/.366 slash line. Despite being 34 years old, he still was worth seven DRS (defensive runs saved) and three OAA (outs above average).

During 2023 with the Twins, Taylor owned a 93 OPS+ and had the second-best season of his career. He had a .720 OPS and his 21 home runs were a career-high.

Minnesota had desires to keep Taylor in 2024, but after paying him $4.5 million the year before, didn’t want to bank on another career year or pay the freight for previous performance. Instead he got $4 million from the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Twins then pivoted to a massive mistake in the form of Manuel Margot.

This season Taylor reached 10 years of service time which gives him access to a fully-vested, life-long pension plan. That’s a decent consolation prize for sitting through a 59-102 season for the White Sox. He did start the final game of Chicago’s season to end his career on the field.