The tale of a star crashing to Earth is often a sad on. In 1991 the New York Yankees drafted LHP Brien Taylor number one overall out of East Carteret High School in Beaufort, North Carolina. He got off to a very promising start before an off season incident led to an injury that derailed his career. That led his life to spiral out of control and he was arrested this week for selling drugs.
Taylor's career was on the verge of stardom after his 1993 season at Double A while only 21. He was 13-7 with a 3.48 ERA, 150 strikeouts and 1.40 WHIP in 163 innings over 27 games. He was on track to join a Yankees staff that truly needed him after earning the spot to draft Taylor first with a 67-95 record in 1990 and followed that with 71-91 and 76-86. The Yankees did start to right things with off season transactions for Paul O'Neill, Wade Boggs and Jimmy Key that helped them improve to 88-74 in 1993.
Then came that fateful day on December 18, 1993. Taylor's brother Brenden had been injured in a fight so Brien and his cousin went to confront him at his home. In a fight there Taylor ended up with a dislocated shoulder and torn labrum. He had surgery on the shoulder and missed the 1994 season.
He returned in 1995 to pitch Rookie ball but he wasn't the same pitcher and struggled through the three following seasons at Class A before being released by the Yankees after the 1998 season. He tried a comeback with the Cleveland Indians in 2000 but only lasted five games at Class A.
His name stayed out of the headlines for years until this week when he was arrested for cocaine trafficking. It is reported that multiple narcotics agents purchased large amounts of cocaine and crack cocaine over several months in his hometown of Beaufort. A lengthy prison sentence is likely and hopefully this is the low point for him.
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