The long awaited and much anticipated return of Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitching prospect Jameson Taillon took place finally on April 13. Pitching for Indianapolis in a Triple A clash versus the Detroit Tigers’ Mudhens franchise in Toledo, Taillon turned in a remarkable performance.
Making his first appearance in a meaningful game since a two inning start for the Arizona Fall League’s Scottsdale Scorpions on October 8, 2013, Taillon pitched six innings in a 4-2 Indians victory.
The second overall pick in the 2010 draft behind Bryce Harper, Taillon progressed normally for a high schooler, advancing one classification each season and reaching Triple A for the first time in 2013.
Taillon’s 2013 was a busy one, it began in March when he represented Canada in the World Baseball Classic and concluded eight months later with his one AFL outing. When Taillon reported to Spring Training in 2014 the hope was this would be his transitional period; a good spring followed by a few tune-up starts back in AAA then on to Pittsburgh.
It was not to be.
Taillon underwent Tommy John surgery in April and after a cautious, yet progressive rehab reported to Spring Training 2015 ready for the routine of getting on the mound and pitching again. The Pirates had a plan of five extended Spring Training starts before returning to a minor league rotation.
The plan didn’t work out as planned; sometime during his final start Taillon developed a sports hernia, underwent surgery, and missed his second consecutive full season.
Which brings us to the present, almost 30 months since his last game action Taillon finally toed the slab in a meaningful game.
I don’t know what the Pirates’ organization expected from him, but if they say they expected what they got they’d be fibbing. He pitched six innings and threw 85 pitches. In 2013 he made 27 starts and completed six full innings in 14 of them. You know how many times he did so with 85 or fewer pitches?
Once.
Let’s talk about the Toledo lineup. Nothing against the Florida State League, but this wasn’t the Lakeland Tigers, this was a lineup in which the first six hitters (and seven of nine) had major league experience.
A small breakdown of Taillon’s evening of work:
- 58 of his 85 pitches were strikes, a solid 68% K/BB ratio
- He threw first pitch strikes to 16 of the 22 hitters he faced
- He went to a three ball count on three hitters, just one over his last four innings
- Seven of the twenty-two hitters swung at the first pitch, two reached base, both during his last inning.
- He struck out six different hitters once each, four of them with ML experience.
- Two of the five hits he surrendered were opposite field hits by a RH batter (major leaguer Dixon Machado). The other three hits were also by major league players, two were pulled by LH hitting Nate Schierholtz and a lined single to center by Casey McGehee.
- He walked none. In 2013, he had four starts total in which he walked zero batters, two of them were less than six inning appearances.
The Indians don’t have names on the back of their jerseys, when I turned on the game I wasn’t sure it was Taillon on the mound. In the Pittsburgh media guide he’s listed at 250 pounds, I’d be surprised if he was more than 230. What happens with pitchers rehabbing arm injuries is they can’t actually use their arm, so the lower body is where most of the work takes place. Taillon also had to rehab from an invasive surgery to his core so he looked much leaner, especially in his lower half, which caused a tightening of his delivery. He still has the Madison Bumgarner/Roy Halladay straight arm takeway in the back but with the tighter delivery there would be less stress on the shoulder and his surgically repaired elbow.
When he was drafted in 2010 Taillon was considered the best prep pitching prospect since fellow Texan Josh Beckett in 1999. The Pirates have also developed to pitchers such as Gerrit Cole, Tyler Glasnow and Nick Kingham to name a few. Until his injury, Taillon was at the top of that list, and if his performance this past week is an indication of things to come, he’ll soon take his place at the top of Pittsburgh’s rotation.
Prospect watchers like us are bi-lingual, we speak English and Hyperbole. It’s an opinion based business, we’re right sometimes and wrong more than we’re right. Sometimes we feel so strongly about something we trust our instincts so much it’s hard to let go.
I watched the game live and twice more on replay. If you have an MiLB.TV subscription I recommend you do the same.
Considering where Taillon was two years ago and what he went through to be where he is now and to perform like he did on April 13th, there may not be a better pitched game from anyone this season.
Which is remarkable.
Chuck Johnson
@prospect_pulse
