Adam Krohn
adamkrohn@daltoncitizen.com
— Taylor Patterson may be an extraordinary athlete, but that’s not solely because of his God-given abilities.
He also has an extraordinary work ethic.
The 6-foot-5-inch, 205-pound junior is a three-sport athlete at Murray County High. During football season, he’s the Indians’ quarterback, having won the starting job midway through the 2009 season. During basketball season, he’s one of the team’s starting posts. And during baseball season, he’s the centerpiece of the team.
He’s the Indians’ best pitcher and hitter. His performance at the plate last season — a .493 batting average with three home runs, 12 doubles and 25 RBIs — earned him a spot on The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Team as a sophomore.
But the accolades he gains don’t come without laborious effort.
Every day before school during baseball season, Patterson wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and heads to the batting cages at the school, where he and his father, Tony, work on his swing for 45 minutes before class starts.
“I have a love for the game,” Patterson said. “I like feeling that I’m the best I can be and I don’t want anything less. I don’t want to leave anything out of the high school experience.”
Between the three sports he plays for the Indians, he’s always working. During football and basketball seasons, he’s also honing his baseball skills. During the end of baseball season, he’s already gearing up for football. Summer includes a rigorous combination of all three sports, a time of year he said is the most exhausting for him.
“I remember one day I had a basketball camp at Tennessee Tech, took a three-hour bus ride home and played in a baseball game, then went to quarterback camp.”
Tony, a former two-sport athlete for Murray County who graduated in 1991, isn’t surprised by his son’s constant desire to improve.
“I’ve never pushed him, he pushes himself,” said Tony, who was a quarterback/defensive end and pitcher/infielder for the Indians. “He loves (playing sports). It doesn’t matter if it’s baseball or hunting with a bow. He wants to be the best.
“The only thing I worry about is sometimes he pushes himself too hard, but that’s just the way he’s built.”
Patterson never appears satisfied with where he’s at as an athlete. He’ll consider his season at the plate a disappointment if he doesn’t improve on last season’s batting average.
In a recent game at Gilmer, Patterson went 2-for-3 at the plate; from the mound, the right-hander struck out 12 to just one walk and allowed five hits and three earned runs in a complete-game losing effort.
Still, he felt he was a reason for the Indians’ 4-2 loss.
“I know everyone was like, ‘You did a good job,’” Patterson said. “But I don’t care how well I did. We lost, which overrides everything. After the game, I was thinking about what else I could have done to help the team.”
Indians coach Jason Lanham said Patterson’s performance against Gilmer was the best of his prep career.
“He had pinpoint control,” Lanham said. “But he takes losses personally and expects for us to succeed. If not, he shoulders the burden when we fail.”
As hard as Patterson pushes himself on and off the field, even Lanham admits he’ll need to take his game to another level to reach his full potential — playing college baseball at the Division I level. Lanham said he gets contacted all the time by schools showing interest in Patterson, including area colleges Chattanooga State, Cleveland State, Shorter and Berry.
Patterson said he’s been in contact with Carson-Newman (Jefferson, Tenn.) and, while at a camp, a scout for the San Diego Padres told him he had the potential to reach the Division I level.
To get there, Patterson said he’ll need to improve on his pitching arsenal, which includes a fastball in the mid-80s, split-finger fastball, slider in the low 80s and a recently developed changeup in the mid-70s.
“I’ve got to get my velocity up,” Patterson said. “And on the secondary pitches, I’ll need to improve on my location. Arm strength will help with all that. Playing quarterback has helped me tremendously from last (baseball) season to this season.”
In the little time when Patterson’s not working on either of his three sports, he’s either hunting, fishing or just hanging out with friends. Sunday is his “chill” day, but even then he’ll still go to the batting cages.
“I’m just always wanting to improve,” he said. “I have to keep working hard.”
