Center of attention

VIERA, Fla. - There's been much hype in the Nationals organization and around baseball regarding the high ceiling of outfielder Michael A. Taylor. It didn't take long for him to introduce himself to the big leagues when he homered in his major league debut last August.

Taylor reached a new level yesterday when he drew the attention of Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander. The 23-year-old Taylor homered twice off the former American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner, including a solo shot to the opposite field that easily cleared the wall in right.

"That was a pretty good pitch," Verlander said. "You don't see many guys take that pitch and hit it oppo out. It was a perfect pitcher's pitch. It was down and away on the black, just below the knees. He just got the barrel on it."

Granted it's still spring training, but that home run came on a full count in only Taylor's second-ever at-bat against Verlander. Two innings later, with a deafening crack of the bat, Taylor sent a Verlander fastball into the grassy berm of sunbathers well beyond the fence in left-center at Joker Marchant Stadium. He's tied for the team lead in homers with three to go along with two triples, two doubles, five RBIs and a .324 batting average.

Another of the Nats' highly ranked prospects, A.J. Cole, said he was "a little jittery" standing on the mound yesterday staring down at Tigers superstar Miguel Cabrera. Cole beat the two-time MVP twice with sliders for strikeouts in Cabrera's first two-at bats. Taylor, Cole's Triple-A Syracuse teammate from last season, said after the game that he was able to keep his emotions in check when digging in against Verlander. Pretty impressive poise from a guy who's only had 39 at-bats in the majors.

Verlander was introduced to Taylor's strength at the plate the hard way, but Nationals manager Matt Williams has known about it for quite some time.

"He's got power, arguably the best power we've got," Williams said of Taylor. "I mean, you watch him take batting practice, it's pretty phenomenal."

That's a fairly revealing assessment of Taylor, especially considering it's fellow Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper who fans and media typically rush to see hit moonshots in pregame BP.

Williams has placed Taylor at the top of the lineup to start most games this spring while center fielder Denard Span recovers from abdominal muscle surgery. Williams has mentioned Taylor as one of the best candidates to top the order on opening day, but is that where the Nationals are best suited to utilize Taylor's power, which delivered 23 homers and 67 RBIs in 110 games last season with Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse?

"Question is, where is he at now? We've been hitting him leadoff because we wanted to give him the majority of the playing time certainly in center field in spring and get him prepared in case we have to make that type of decision," Williams said. "Right now, I think it's unclear where he profiles because he has the ability to do 'em all. It's where he'll fall and settle in that will be determined as he goes. Could he do it? ... Someday, could he hit in the middle of the order? Sure."

Taylor's biggest obstacle at the plate is overcoming strikeouts. He had four of them in Thursday's game and 17 in 39 major league at-bats last year. After Taylor's golden sombrero, a lot of the armchair prognosticators switched their attention off Taylor and toward non-roster invitee Tony Gwynn Jr. as the potential opening day starter in center field in place of Span. Gwynn has also had a stellar spring, batting .364 with a homer, a triple and a double in 15 games. But that scuttlebutt quieted after Taylor's effort on Sunday.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo was sitting a few rows behind the plate to see Taylor's amazing day in Lakeland.

"It's going to be a transition year for him offensively," Rizzo said last week. "He's still a young rookie player kind of finding himself at the big league level, but he's got a lot of talent. He's a five-tool candidate type of player."