Pittsburgh Pirates Might Need to Worry About Jameson Taillon
By Wayne Cavadi
Pittsburgh Pirates’ elite pitching prospect Jameson Taillon’s long trek to the Major League’s just got longer.
#Pirates' Jameson Taillon, the Minors' No. 25 prospect, to undergo surgery for hernia, miss two months: http://t.co/y7E8wnRHcK
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) July 3, 2015
Taillon, of course, is the Pirates former first round draft pick (2010) who has made more news off the field than on it. Taillon hasn’t thrown a pitch since 2013. The 23-year old righty was expected to make his debut after his long recovery from Tommy John on June 23rd.
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Instead, he complained of pain in his abdominal area. The results of the impending tests were a sports hernia, an ailment a few pitchers have fought through over the past few seasons. Taillon and the Pirates opted for surgery, virtually ending their No. 2 prospect’s Minor league season. If his recovery goes well and there are no set backs, he could pitch in the Arizona Fall League.
I can rattle you off stats, I can tell you all about his potential, but we all know about that already. The Pirates need to see it from Taillon, and that seems to be taking longer and longer each season.
Should the Pirates be concerned? At this point, it may be time to be a bit worried. Tyler Glasnow, their No. 1 prospect, spent time on the shelf this season. Their third ranked pitching prospect and No. 6 overall Nick Kingham is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May. Now Taillon is down for the count… again.
The Pirates made a lot of seemingly right picks to bolster a future rotation of pitchers with top notch potential, but thus far, they have a harder time staying on the field than finding the strike zone. Taillon is the most worrisome because he is a repeat offender.
The good news is that all three are still very young. Kingham and Taillon have that pesky Tommy John surgery out of the way. Glasnow has looked sharp in his Double-A debut this season, and at 21 years of age, he looks like his en route to years of greatness.
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But Taillon has now missed his age-22 and age-23 seasons. These are the formative years for a young pitching prospect that hasn’t really had the “holy cow” type season just yet. He has the make up of a Major Leaguer — behind a huge 6 foot 5, 240 pound frame and three above-average, Major League ready pitches — but still has trouble commanding his stuff. These are the years a young pitcher learns to controls the strike zone. Taillon is now considerably behind the eight ball.
This doesn’t mean that Taillon is a bust, nor does it mean that he won’t pan out in the Pirates rotation. It is safe to say that expectations of Taillon’s arrival was seemingly closer than it is right now. Having not thrown a live action pitch in almost two years, Taillon will need all of 2016 in the Minors now his earliest Major League debut shouldn’t be seen until 2017 if there are no further setbacks. With Taillon, that is no guarantee.