> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://baseballthings.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Nathan Taylor — Mariners Prospect Profile
- URL: https://baseballthings.com/nathan-taylor-mariners-prospect-profile/
- Published: 2026-09-02T03:53:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-29T06:58:50.000Z
- Description: Mariners right-hander, No. 15 in the September 2026 rankings. Scouting reports, development notes and start-by-start analysis from Jason A. Churchill.
- Author: Jason A. Churchill
- Tags: Nathan Taylor

Taylor was the club's under-slot third-round pick, but comes with rotation upside and bullpen floor. He threw strikes at Cincinnati in 2026 and improved his swing-and-miss ability, thanks to a plus slider he threw more than anything else (49%), but he needs to develop the arsenal and get more from the fastball to profile to the bigs as a starter.

Taylor got better in every measurable way in each of his three seasons at Cincinnati, which is rarer than it sounds. His ERA went 5.45, 3.93, 3.60\. His FIP went 5.19, 4.76, 4.03\. His walk rate went 10.1%, 9.7%, 7.0%. His strikeout rate went 21.3%, 24.4%, 29.9%. Not one of those four lines moved backward in a single year, and the combined figure doubled — a strikeout-minus-walk rate of 11.2% as a freshman became 22.9% as a junior.

The strike-throwing is literal. Taylor threw 1,489 pitches in 2026 and 959 of them were strikes, a 64.4% rate, and he walked nobody at all in three of his 16 starts. He also kept the ball on the ground, inducing 87 ground outs against 48 fly outs.

[Griffin Hugus — Mariners Prospect ProfileMariners right-hander, No. 20 in the September 2026 rankings. Scouting reports, development notes and start-by-start analysis from Jason A. Churchill.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f2/85/f285ce72-40e3-409f-ae3b-2ef371936c02/content/images/size/w256h256/2026/08/BT27Logo1024width--1-.png)Baseball ThingsJason A. Churchill![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f2/85/f285ce72-40e3-409f-ae3b-2ef371936c02/content/images/2026/09/Griffin_Hugus.png)](https://baseballthings.com/griffin-hugus-mariners-prospect-profile/)

Nobody handled him gently, either. He made 16 starts and averaged 5.6 innings, reached six innings nine times and seven innings five times, and threw at least 100 pitches in six of them, topping out at 114 against West Virginia on April 24.

Then there is the end of the season, and it is the part worth watching. Through his first 12 starts Taylor struck out 32.4% of the batters he faced. Over his final four he struck out 20.2%, his walk rate climbed from 7.0% to 9.5%, and his strike rate fell from roughly 65% to 60.2%. The last two starts produced one strikeout in three innings against Arizona State and three in six against Louisiana. His ERA over that closing stretch was 2.33 — the best of any segment of his year — because the ground balls spiked to nearly three per fly out. He got outs. He stopped missing bats.

That came at the end of a career-high 90 innings, after 87 and 72.2 the two seasons before, in the spring he was drafted.

The FIP is the standing counterweight. It has sat above his ERA in each of the last two seasons, and even in his best year it was 4.03 — which is the number that says the arsenal still needs the development you're calling for.