“I live in a small town, and to avoid dealing with ex girlfriend’s moms, they go ‘oh do you still play for the Angels,’” Taylor Ward said with a laugh. “And I say ‘yeah, sure, yeah.’ So now, it’s one of those ‘oh hey, you just got traded to Baltimore!’”
He had, of course, not been traded to the Orioles. That would be quite a career shift for Ward, who has been covering the Angels for Baseball America since 2013.
Instead, it was a player that he had covered for a long time in Anaheim, Joseph Taylor Ward, who goes by Taylor, that had been sent to Baltimore in exchange for Grayson Rodriguez.
“We actually played baseball against each other a long time ago, high school days,” Baseball America’s Ward said of the new O’s outfielder. “His introduction after getting drafted, the PR Director was introducing him in the Angels’ media room and said ‘we’re going to start our questions with Taylor Ward.’ And I said ‘hey Taylor,’ and he looked at me and it was one of those connections of like ‘we’ve met before but where have we met.’ And I said ‘I’m Taylor Ward,’ and he said ‘I’m Taylor Ward,’ and it was an old connection that kind of came to fruition.”
The duo, a reporter and a player sharing the same name, were the center of plenty of jokes in the clubhouse and on social media. So, on the day when the outfielder was traded, you can imagine what the day was like for the reporter.
“It is an impossible task … My phone blew up.”
Ward, the outfielder, was selected by the Angels in the first round of the 2015 draft. At the time, he was viewed as a defense-first catcher. Since, of course, he has found a home in the outfield. He’s now seen as an offense-first player, too. But that development took time.
From his debut in 2018 through the 2021 season, Ward struggled to find consistent playing time in the Angels’ lineup, appearing in just 159 games. In those four years, the Fresno State product hit just .230 with 15 home runs and an OPS below .700.
Then, everything changed at the plate.
“He went to a personal friend,” BA’s Ward said of the outfielder. “It was a friend of Brett Phillips, it was a friend of his, it was a hitting coach in North Texas. They got to working together and he said ‘I want to swing a baseball bat like Justin Turner,’ and he did. That was the turnaround.
It just completely transformed his game entirely.”
In the four seasons that followed, Ward’s OPS has jumped all the way up to .783 while mashing 98 home runs and 97 doubles, accumulating over 10 bWAR in the process.
Perhaps most importantly, though, certainly in the context of recent Orioles history, is Ward’s stability. In 2025, the 31-year-old appeared in 157 games. In 2024, it was 156. Last season, Baltimore had just two players appear in even 100 games.
When Ward did miss some time in 2023, his absence was certainly felt.
“Him missing in that lineup, that was actually his breakout year,” BA’s Ward said. “He was probably going to be an All-Star that year, at least we felt that way.”
Coupled with Ward’s stability is his longevity. The outfielder’s first season in Baltimore will be his ninth overall. His time in the game hasn’t made Ward much more talkative, though.
“I think he’s a quiet leader,” BA’s Ward said. “Taylor is pretty subdued by just his nature. But one of the things that comes with that, also, is this is a guy who just won the Baseball Writers Association “Good Guy Award” last season. So he’s very well liked, he’s very well respected.
He’s a veteran of the game at this point. And he’ll go and tell people ‘hey, this is what I saw from the pitcher.’ He’s a very experienced hitter, and I think he learned that from his time growing up with Albert Pujols and Mike Trout among other people. So I think he has kind of carried the torch from learning from others where he can now teach others as well.”
The only thing he’ll be missing in Baltimore is a beat writer that shares his name.
“I texted him the other day and he said ‘it’s going to be weird not having a Taylor Ward in the room with me,’ the writer said. “Actually, that’s not true, his wife’s name is Taylor as well. Taylor Ward is married to Taylor,” he remarked with a smile.
“We’ve gotta find another Taylor Ward. They’re out there, apparently.”