Michael A. Taylor looked at the calendar, and he made up his mind a few months ago.
Taylor would retire on the final day of the MLB season, playing at Nationals Park.
That day is here. Taylor told reporters Sunday that this was the final day of his MLB career.
Taylor plays for the Chicago White Sox now. It's the end of a 12-year career.
The centerfielder was once a top-50 prospect in all of baseball for the Washington Nationals.
He spent his first seven seasons with the Nats. In that time, he batted .237 with 53 home runs and 77 steals.
Taylor was most known in D.C. for his exceptional defense in centerfield, capable of diving in the gaps and leaping over the fence to reel the baseball in.
From Washington, Taylor went to two seasons with the Kansas City Royals, one for the Minnesota Twins, one for the Pittsburgh Pirates and this one for the White Sox.
Taylor is a career .232 hitter with 109 homers.
This season for Chicago, Taylor has batted .199 with 20 doubles and nine home runs.
Taylor, 34, was originally a sixth-round pick by the Nats in 2009 out of a high school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
And now 16 years later, he hangs up his cleats in the ballpark of the organization that got everything started for him.
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