JAMESON TAILLON
After taking a big step forward in 2018, the Pittsburgh
Pirates appear to have a bonafide ace sitting at the top of their rotation in
the form of Jameson Taillon
Now that the 2018 regular season has come to an end for
the Pittsburgh Pirates we can look back on it and examine the good and the bad.
As part of the good, a lucky few will be winners of Rum Bunter Awards this
week.
We will start with Rum Bunter’s 2018 Pirates’ Cy Young
Award winner. While a strong argument could be made for Trevor Williams, the
nod goes to Jameson Taillon.
During spring training, I predicted that Taillon would be
a top-10 pitcher in the National League by the end of the season. Well,
Taillon’s 3.7 fWAR in 2018 ranked 11th in the NL. So, I almost got one right
for once.
In 32 starts this season, Taillon pitched 191 innings,
the first two complete games of his career, he owned a 3.20 ERA, and a 3.46
FIP. Other than ERA, all of these led the Pirate pitching staff. His 3.7 fWAR
was a staff high, too. On a broader level, Taillon’s ERA and FIP both ranked
11th in the NL, his 5.9% walk rate was 7th best in the league, and his 22.8%
strikeout ranked 18th.
After a slow start to the season, Taillon starting
throwing a slider during a start against the Cincinnati Reds on May 22nd. From
this point on, Taillon was one of the best starting pitchers in the NL.
After adding his slider Taillon owned a 2.97 ERA, 3.20
FIP, a 5.2% walk rate, 23.4% strikeout rate, and he allowed just 14 home runs
in 145 2/3 innings pitched (0.86 HR/9). Additionally, Taillon allowed three
earned runs or less in each of his final 22 starts of the season.
Moving forward, the Pirates have a legitimate staff ace
in Taillon. When the team drafted him with the #2 overall pick in the 2010
draft a staff anchor/ace is what the Pirates saw in Taillon’s future, and that
future has become the present.
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