The count ‘doesn’t matter’: On Taylor Ward’s unique approach, and how it led to a starting job with the Angels

In the final days leading up to the unceremonious end of spring training in 2020, Taylor Ward received a gift.

At the time, Ward’s career was in something of a precarious spot. He was on the heels of an unproductive 2019 season where he’d been optioned five times. He’d hit just .190 in the 20 games he did play with the Angels. And defensively, Ward was somewhat adrift, working both as a third baseman and outfielder, all after moving off his longtime position at catcher a couple years prior.

But Ward also recognized that this new coaching staff wanted him to come out of his shell. They wanted to convince him that he was a good baseball player. That’s why assistant hitting coach John Mallee gave Ward a book called “Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence” and left a note inside.

When the pandemic shut down baseball, Ward had the time to read the book. He credits it as a guiding tool in his approach — one that’s unique, and clearly assisting in Ward’s career resurgence.

“It’s the same game, just the lights are brighter,” Ward said. “Going up and down these last few years, I’ve really started to understand. Keeping my approach in the box, staying with it every pitch. Not letting anything dictate what I’m thinking in the box. That has really been the separator.”

Entering camp this year, the outside expectation was that Ward was unlikely to make the roster. After all, he’d been optioned in July of last season, suffered an injury, and never returned to the big-league club, despite being activated during the final weekend of play. By then, the Angels had promoted top prospects Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh. And both were quickly looking like corner-outfield fixtures.

Around that time, Angels manager Joe Maddon was asked about Ward’s role with the organization moving forward, and even Maddon was skeptical that Ward would crack a starting lineup in the near future.

“I’m not saying he can’t be a starting outfielder, but probably a good fourth outfielder would be his best lot in life,” Maddon said that day, adding that Ward was a great hitter and a well-liked teammate.

Ward, to Maddon’s pleasant surprise, quickly dispelled the notion that a backup outfielder is his ceiling, having earned the starting right field job out of camp. Whenever Maddon talks about Ward now, it’s in glowing terms. In his mind, this is a job well-earned by Ward.

In his first 10 games, Ward has a .500 on-base percentage with three home runs and a 1.147 OPS, prompting the Angels to move him into the leadoff role after just eight games.

Ward, 28, spent a long time trying to find his offensive and defensive identity. Now, he feels comfortable. He feels mentally together. And he looks like a bona fide major-league player.

“He’s been great. He’s getting on base for us, hitting homers,” said Mike Trout. “He’s capable of doing that stuff. He knows it. He’s very confident in what he does.”

There’s a unique zen to Ward’s approach at the plate. He tries to eliminate what the count is in his head. He often doesn’t try to anticipate pitch types that he’ll see. Many hitters will tell you they’re just looking for a pitch to hit, and it becomes a cliché. For Ward, he’s stripping away all the external factors so that he can only be thinking about getting that one pitch to hit.

“The count … it doesn’t matter,” Ward said. “Just waiting for the ball to show up in the spot. That’s all that matters. No count. No lineup. It doesn’t matter. I’m just in the box, doing my thing. Don’t think about it at all.”

When Ward brought in the game-winning run on a bases-loaded walk Sunday, he said he was going to take the ninth pitch of the at-bat no matter what. He didn’t think he was going to see a strike.

The automatic take calls are rare. The automatic swing calls are, too. But both happen.

The approach might seem odd, but the results speak for themselves. In 10 games, Ward has 10 walks. He took Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber deep twice, both on 3-2 counts.

His advanced metrics thus far are all off the charts, as well. His hard-hit percentage is 48 percent, while the MLB average is 35.5 percent. His walk percentage is 22.7 percent, compared to 8.4 percent for the league. Ward also sees an average of 4.11 pitches per plate appearance. That’s comparable to Trout (4.20) and Anthony Rendon (4.34), both of whom rank in the American League’s top 20 in that category.

“His at-bats are some of the best I’ve ever seen, to be honest,” said Angels pitcher Michael Lorenzen, who notably is also a hitter. “Even in spring training, his takes are just incredible. If I were to start hitting again, I’d probably try to hit like him.”

Getting to this point has been a process. He put in an absurd amount of time reacclimating to third base after spending his college and minor-league career at the position. Then he was moved to the outfield, a new position, but one that he felt more ready for having already learned the hot corner.

That is just part of the technical work he had to put in. Ward’s most significant growth, though, has been on the mental side. He references his book often, like something of his batter’s box Bible. He recommends it to high school-aged mentees and thinks major-league players could find it handy.

There was a moment in Ward’s leadoff spot debut, when he swung at a pitch and, instead of hitting it, accidentally threw his bat in the direction of the Angels’ dugout. That, he said, was embarrassing. It’s a lonely feeling making a clumsy mistake in front of everyone, even if the jabs in his direction were playful. His book might not directly tell him, “Take a pitch in a full count” or, “How to not throw your bat.” But for Ward, it provided a framework for how to handle adversity. It provided a framework for how to view success in a batter’s box, where failing most of the time is normal.

Ward has been up and down in this organization many times. The plans and expectations for him have changed time and again since he was taken by the club in the first round (26th overall) of the 2015 draft out of Fresno State.

But right now, he’s a starting outfielder, and proving that he might have finally found his footing at the sport’s highest level.

“Every time I’ve gone down (to the minor leagues) and come back up, it’s gotten better,” Ward said of his mental approach. “Down to up, it’s gotten better. I just keep going up and up and up.

“I just think I’m going to continue to grow and get better. I’m just fortunate for the opportunity I have.”

(Photo: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)