The Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2017 was a lousy one for most of the year. However, there was one huge bright spot, and its name is Jameson Taillon.
Grading out Pittsburgh Pirates’ SP Jameson Taillon’s 2017 season is a tricky task.
On one hand, Taillon entered into his first full season in the major leagues. As such, many wanted to see the progress necessary to prove that Taillon’s excellent showing in his long-awaited rookie campaign was just a starting point.
On the other hand, it would be pure folly to completely ignore the personal, off-the-field circumstances that Taillon went through this year, and their effects. His battle with testicular cancer inspired thousands and reminded everyone — again — of how tough (and tough-minded) Taillon is.
Not bulletproof, mind you. But tough. A bulldog on the mound and in real life, Taillon tackled his diagnosis in the same unrelenting manner in which he battled the myriad of injuries that delayed his big league debut.
As someone who lost a close friend to the same disease, hell the same type of the same disease, I can’t begin to tell you how admirable Taillon was throughout his entire ordeal.
Please forgive the previous 200-some odd words to this review of Taillon’s 2017 season, but they needed to be said. And heard. Again.
With that being …said, now we will take a look at the strides and, yes, missteps that Taillon took in his second major league season.
A highly anticipated encore
Pittsburgh Pirates fans latched onto Taillon for more than a few reasons.
There’s his story of clawing to get to the big leagues. Then, there was the solid start to his career. Taillon’s game logs from 2016 show a pitcher learning and adjusting to major league hitters on the fly. When the dust settled, Taillon put up a respectable 3.71 FIP to go along with a 5.0 SO/W ratio.
With each passing start, Pittsburgh Pirates fans began to think of Taillon as something nearly mythical in their eyes — a prospect that might actually pan out.
And with that designation, Taillon’s second season fell under a white hot spotlight. The young right-hander responded in kind, pitching to a 3.71 FIP over the season’s first month. He showed a remarkable ability to strand runners on base at an 85.4 percent rate and carried the highest ground ball rate of the starting pitching staff with a 55.2 percent clip.
He still kept the ball in the park with a 0.52 HR/9 mark, but found a new propensity to walk more hitters out of the chute, with a 3.59 BB/9 rate in April, more than double his 2016 season long rate of 1.5.
Even with the high walk rate, Taillon’s first month in 2017 gave fans a chance to exhale in what had already been a tortuous month. Starling Marte was suspended, Jung Ho Kang was denied a visa and Gerrit Cole looked shaky, but Taillon…Taillon looked legit.
After a less-than-quality start on May 3rd, in which he allowed two home runs and six earned runs, Taillon went under the knife to remove the cancer, and incredibly returned just over a month later on June 12th.
Taillon’s performance from that point should allow for many Pittsburgh Pirates fans to exhale once again.
The long and winding road to a newfound ability
A lively two-seam fastball and a hammer curve often find themselves on tool-belts of high-strikeout pitchers all over the major leagues. Taillon has those tools, but flashed the usually accompanying punchouts at a solid if unspectacular rate of 7.4 per nine innings.
2017 was a different story, as Taillon began to rack up some high strikeout totals. That is to be expected from any young talented pitcher making his second go-round against major league hitters, yet Taillon looked like an entirely different pitcher
In his rookie campaign, Taillon was perhaps too reliant on his curveball in two strike counts. A healthier mix of pitches in 2017 resulted in Taillon averaging a full strikeout more per nine — 8.4 — than he did in 2016.
[table id=246 /]Though there was a bit more of a mix of offerings on a strikeout’s doorstep, the actual punchout pitch was still the curveball, as we reviewed previously:
It is not entirely clear what to make of this at first glance. The second year Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher is mixing up what he shows hitters on two-strike counts, yet hitters still lay out for his bender more than any other pitch. Does Taillon need to continue to mix things up in two strike counts?
As is often the case in baseball, we cannot accurately answer that question. Matchups often dictate pitch types, after all. With that being said, Taillon may need to purposefully impose his will with his fastball on two-strike counts to truly stay ahead in the chess match.
The bottom line is this: Taillon struck out a full batter more per nine innings year-over-year and that is exactly what you want to see in a second year starting pitcher.
Dog days struggles
A black mark on Taillon’s otherwise solid 2017 season was a stretch of six starts among seven second-half outings that were well, not great.
Aside from September 2nd, Taillon was unable to pitch into the sixth inning, and put up some truly ugly stat lines. Could it have been some type of standard “dog days” struggle that most young pitchers go through? Perhaps.
This stretch of games in particular bring the off-the-field issues that Taillon dealt with back into focus. To the naked eye, Taillon came back from his diagnosis and did not miss a beat. But did the mental strain catch up to him later in the year?
Hard to say.
The fact is, we will never have an answer to that because, even if it were true, Taillon would never admit it. There’s that bulldog mentality again.
Alas, we are tasked with grading out his season as a whole, and this stretch cannot be ignored completely.
Final 2017 Grade: B
Considering the uniqueness of Taillon’s first full year in the majors, the Pittsburgh Pirates have to consider his 2017 a rousing success. Not only was Taillon able to come back from a life-altering medical issue, he actually found another gear by striking out more hitters than the year previous.
For 2018, Taillon will focus on lowering his walk rate — though inflated by several high-walk starts — which is worrisome. He’ll also have to continue to refine his pitch mix while staying on top of his mechanics, which, according to Ray Searage, caused the funky late-summer stretch.
All things considered, the Pittsburgh Pirates have found a top of the rotation starter.
If that point was in doubt prior to 2017, there can be no question of it now.
Photo credit – Daniel Decker Photography
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