On Wednesday, May 29, former Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichoke, pitcher, Josh Taylor, made his Major League Baseball debut with Boston Red Sox.

In his first plate appearance, Taylor pitched one inning facing five Cleveland Indian batters. 

He had one strikeout and induced a ground-out and a fly-out.  Taylor also gave up two hits during his debut, both doubles, and one earned run in a 14-9 loss at Fenway Park, in Boston.

On Friday Taylor pitched another inning against division foe, New York Yankees, and launched a scoreless eighth inning against New York at Yankee Stadium. 

Taylor, a stand-out, left-handed, pitcher at SCC in Scottsdale Arizona in 2012 and 2013, helped the Artichokes make the Junior College World Series appearances in both seasons. 

Taylor was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies but spent time in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization before being traded to Boston last season for infielder Deven Marrero

Alex Cherney of Scottsdale Community College coached Taylor during his time at SCC and is optimistic about Taylor’s chances of staying in a major league rotation.

“I think they brought him up for a reason.  I think he’ll stay for a little bit,” Cherney told Northeast Valley News.

“I think how long that will be is going to be determined by a couple of things—one of them is obviously how well he’s gonna pitch.  But then the other thing is—it also depends on the rest of their roster and who’s on the injured list, who’s coming off the injured list and what they need at that particular point,” Cherney said.

Cherney added that Artichoke fans may want to watch out for former Scottsdale Community College baseball player,  Brett Nicholas, a catcher in the Colorado Rockies system as well as Stephen Tarpley, a left-handed pitcher, currently playing for Yankees affiliate Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.