Taylor Hill Teagarden (born December 21, 1983) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He has played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the Texas Rangers from 2008 to 2011, the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in 2012 and 2013, the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

in 2014 and the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

in 2015.

Early life

Teagarden graduated from Creekview High School in

Carrollton, Texas Carrollton is a city in Dallas, Denton, and Collin counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 133,434, making it the 23rd-most populous city in Texas. History The area was first settled by Jared Ford i ...

in 2002. Teagarden attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where he was a catcher on the

Texas Longhorns baseball The Texas Longhorns baseball team represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's baseball competition. The Longhorns currently compete in the Big 12 Conference. The University of Texas began varsity interc ...

team. Most notably, Teagarden played on the Longhorns' 2005 NCAA Championship team, which won the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

Major league career

Texas Rangers

Taylor was drafted in the third round of the

2005 Major League Baseball Draft The 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 7 and 8. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams. It is widely considered to be one of the best ...

by the Texas Rangers. His first major league

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

(a solo

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

) happened on July 20, 2008. It came off

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Scott Baker in the top of the 6th, who, until then, had not given up a hit all game. It would end up being the only

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

of the game in a Rangers 1–0 victory. In his first 40 plate appearances he had 10 extra base hits, a record tied in 2018 by first baseman

Rowdy Tellez Ryan John "Rowdy" Tellez ( ; born March 16, 1995) is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2013, Tellez was both a ''B ...

for the most by any ballplayer since 1913. Teagarden played for the 2008 USA Olympic Team. Sent to Double-A Frisco early in the 2010 season, Teagarden was called back up to the Majors in July 2010 due to the injuries of catcher

Matt Treanor Matthew Aaron Treanor (born March 3, 1976) is an American former professional baseball catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, and Los Angeles Dodgers. High s ...

. While at Double-A Frisco, he finished fourth in the fan vote for A.L. catcher for the 2010 All-Star game with 631,674 votes, above Major League catchers John Buck of the Blue Jays,

Mike Napoli Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

of the

Angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

and

A. J. Pierzynski Anthony John Pierzynski (; born December 30, 1976) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Minnesota Twins (1998–2003), San Francisco Giants (2004), Chicago White Sox (2005–2012) ...

of the

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. Teagarden hit three home runs in his first five games after his July recall from the minors.

Baltimore Orioles

He was traded to the

for minor-league pitcher Randy Henry and a player to be named later on December 1, 2011. However, he began the 2012 season on the disabled list due to lower-back injuries. He was cleared to begin baseball activities on June 1, 2012 and began his minor league rehab games with the Double-A

Bowie Baysox The Bowie Baysox are a Minor League Baseball team located in Bowie, Maryland. They are the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, and play in the Eastern League. Their home ballpark is Prince George's Stadium. History From 1989 to 1992, ...

on July 6. On the same day he was activated by the Orioles off the disabled list on July 14, he hit a two-run, two-out

homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

off

Joaquín Benoit Joaquín Antonio Benoit Peña (born July 26, 1977) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Toronto ...

to end a 13-inning 8–6 victory over the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

Camden Yards The Oriole Park at Camden Yards is a baseball stadium located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home field of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles, and the first of the "retro" major league ballparks constructed during the 1990s and early ...

. He was designated for assignment on September 1, 2013 and subsequently became a free agent.

New York Mets

Teagarden signed a minor league deal with the

with an invite to Spring Training on January 6, 2014. The Mets selected Teagarden's contract from the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s on June 8. He hit a

grand slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

in his first game for the Mets on June 10 against the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

, the second grand slam of his career. Teagarden elected free agency in October 2014.

Chicago Cubs

On January 10, 2015, Teagarden signed a minor league deal with the

. In early July, the Cubs needed catching depth and called up Teagarden to backup starter

Miguel Montero Miguel Angel Montero Fernandez (born July 9, 1983) is a Venezuelan-American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays, and Washington Nationals ...

behind the plate. Teagarden was batting .294 with 19 RBI in 43 games for the

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. The ...

PED usage

On December 26, 2015, Teagarden was named in an Al Jazeera report linking him to

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where bann ...

(PED) usage. Teagarden is shown in an undercover video talking about his PED usage in years past. Teagarden initially made no comment on the video. On April 1, 2016 Teagarden was suspended 80 games for violating the MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Teagarden ended his career following the conclusion of the 2017 season.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teagarden, Taylor 1983 births Living people Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Baseball players from Dallas Major League Baseball catchers Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in baseball People from Carrollton, Texas Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Texas Rangers players Baltimore Orioles players New York Mets players Chicago Cubs players Texas Longhorns baseball players Spokane Indians players Arizona League Rangers players Frisco RoughRiders players Bakersfield Blaze players Surprise Rafters players Estrellas Orientales players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Oklahoma RedHawks players Oklahoma City RedHawks players Round Rock Express players Bowie Baysox players Delmarva Shorebirds players Gulf Coast Orioles players Norfolk Tides players Las Vegas 51s players St. Lucie Mets players Gulf Coast Mets players Iowa Cubs players