Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Tauchman was in the Bay Area four minutes, he says, before he was reminded how deeply the area cares about its sports teams.
And not just the Giants, to whom the outfielder was traded Tuesday.
“The man who picked me up from the airport asked me if it was true,” Tauchman said Wednesday, and it is: Yes, he indeed picked off a Jimmy Garoppolo pass in high school.
Tauchman was playing safety for Fremd High School in Illinois, while the 49ers quarterback (at the moment, at least) was leading Rolling Meadows High School.
“We were just kind of in a pretty standard cover two, and they had a receiver run a corner out, and I gave him some space,” Tauchman said in his introductory Zoom conference. “And I felt like Jimmy, who was a year younger than me, was staring down a little bit. And I was like, throw it. And I kind of just jumped in. We went down the field, scored a touchdown and won the game.
“The next year Jimmy got a lot better, and then went and dominated Eastern Illinois for a long time and now he’s an NFL quarterback. … I think we both made the right career choices.”
Tauchman’s took him to Bradley University, where he played against Alex Dickerson’s Indiana University. He was drafted in the 10th round in 2013 by the Rockies and made his way through the system, including stops with Double-A New Britain, where he got plenty of glimpses of a Baltimore outfielder who couldn’t get his chance named Mike Yastrzemski. Tauchman debuted in 2017 then was dealt to the Yankees before the 2019 season, when he emerged as a standout.
In 87 games with New York, he slashed .277/.361/.504 with 13 home runs and six steals, showing good plate discipline and excellent outfield defense — he can handle center and either corner.
The 2020 shortened season was not kind to him, and neither was the playing time afforded an outfielder in a unit that contained Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Brett Gardner, Clint Frazier, etc.
“I was fortunate to have some consistent playing time in 2019 and I put together a good stretch during that time,” the 30-year-old said. “I think 2020 was — you don’t ever want to make excuses for poor performance because at the end of the day if you’re in the lineup, that’s all that matters. And I tried to put myself in the lineup, and get through some things, and unfortunately I didn’t produce the way I wanted to.”
His OPS dropped by more than 200 points, to .648 in the small-ish sample size of 111 plate appearances. He said he worked on his body to ensure it was at peak condition this past offseason, but a chance in the Yankees’ outfield “wasn’t really there for me.”
If the Giants poaching an overlooked outfielder from another system — they dealt away Wandy Peralta and a player to be named in the trade — sounds familiar, consider the current Giants he’s played against in college and the Eastern League.
Tauchman fits what the Giants look for: He plays good defensive flexibly and works pitchers deep into counts. Tauchman repeatedly mentioned how difficult hitting has become, and no one will argue with him when pitchers are throwing triple-digits with unfair breaking stuff, even if some of the time they don’t know where it’s going. He has a relationship with hitting coach Donnie Ecker — they worked together a few years ago — and the Giants hope they have found another piece who didn’t fully break through elsewhere before blossoming at Oracle Park.
“There’s only 25 or now 26 big-league jobs, and there’s four or five outfield jobs, so a lot of times it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time with the right group, and something can click for you,” Tauchman said, before stating words Gabe Kapler, Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris will appreciate. “The great thing about our game is that you can still be getting a lot better at 28, 29, 30, 31 in my opinion. … Success is not a direct relationship in baseball, where the biggest, strongest fastest guys are always the best.”
Tauchman is getting the start Wednesday at Oracle Park and batting seventh against Colorado’s German Marquez, and Kapler indicated that’s primarily how he’ll be used — a lefty bat in center against righties, which will create fewer at-bats against righties for Mauricio Dubon and Austin Slater.
The Giants like the whole package, though, Kapler specifically calling out his baserunning. He has 16 steals and been caught twice in his big-league career.
That’s a different kind of steal than his history with Garoppolo.