Comments on: What’s Wrong With Jameson Taillon?

By: Mark Ludwig

Mark Ludwig — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 16:29:00 +0000

Y’know, if somebody had asked me if it were possible to miss the point of a well-thought out, well-written article as badly as you apparently did, I would have said ‘no.’ Thank you for reminding me to never underestimate the overreactions of knee-jerk Pittsburgh fans.

Your complaint that Taillon hasn’t progressed as arguably the two greatest prospects of the past 50 years is absurd. Apparently every hockey prospect who doesn’t score 100 points as a rookie like Sidney Crosby is destined to be a bust, right? Every rookie QB who doesn’t win 14 games in his first season like Ben couldn’t possibly succeed in the NFL. And, of course, every 20 year old pitching prospect who isn’t dominating (in case you were wondering, there isn’t a single 20 year old pitching in the majors right now, There are three 21-year olds: Julio Teheran (with his 8.31 ERA) Jordan Lyles (5.50 ERA) and Drew Hutchison (doing the best with a 4.60 ERA but FWIW, he was taken a year earlier than Taillon and started last season, his age-20 season in High A like Taillon) in the majors should be cast aside because he was so obviously a terrible draft pick.

By: R. Matthew Geist

R. Matthew Geist — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 15:26:00 +0000

Strasburg was drafted and promoted the same year with the nationals. Harper it took him a year and he is in the bigs and now look at him he is the hottest thing in DC since Ovechkin. He skipped levels of minor league ball to get here hes not old enough to buy beer but he can hit homers with regularity. Kyle Stark needs to go he has been the pirates key guy for player development and look what that has gotten us. Rene Gayo has to go too I mean what key latin american prospect has he signed recently that made it to the big league level?

By: R. Matthew Geist

R. Matthew Geist — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 15:10:00 +0000

You can only blow so much smoke up a pirates fans ass until he decides to quit rooting for them. I have been a bucco fan for 35 years (since birth) and I had to admit I was excited when they drafted alvarez, taillon, allie, cole and sanchez. We know as fans they have to work hard to make an impact at the major league level but wtf would you give allie 2.5 million and then make him a hitter after only so many starts. Is he injured has he found god and god told him to revert back to being a hitter? I cant take the lying bs from upper management and the training staff in the minors about our players. There is a serious developmental and scouting issue thats why we have sucked so bad for 20 years. I live in erie pa so I can always be an indians fan.

By: st1300b

st1300b — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 11:55:00 +0000

I hear the words, but I would argue that I’d rather have Taillon and Cole in the majors throwing their 100 gas and 3/4 pitch mixes – with Ray Searage mentoring them through rough patches rather than seeing Kevin Correia or Brad Lincoln start another game. These are not typical arms, these are the kind of arms like Kerry Wood or Clemens.
Nothing wrong with some minor league time for these two, but if they aren’t on the team by end of 2013 then we’re missing the real opportunity of having them get the jitters out at ML and ready to come strong for 2014 – god willing I’m here to see it.

By: VtTom

VtTom — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 21:19:00 +0000

In response to a question in a chat today, Matt Eddy of Baseball America mentioned Taillon as one of the pitchers he’d select if he had to pick a five man rotation for 2015 out of current minor league pitchers. He didn’t have Gerritt Cole but said he was one he considered. That’s encouraging for Taillon.

By: Ian Rothermund

Ian Rothermund — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 21:13:00 +0000

I feel like you ended with such a perfect statement.

By: Ian Rothermund

Ian Rothermund — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:30:00 +0000

I guess we should just cut him then

By: Tim Williams

Tim Williams — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:18:00 +0000

If the expectation is that eventual aces won’t have problems in high-A, then there would be no need to send them to high-A.

You mentioned Miller. He’s now getting hit in Triple-A. Is that perhaps because he blew through the lower levels so fast that he didn’t learn the proper adjustments needed for success in the upper levels?

Same for Jacob Turner. Moved quickly through the lower levels, and he’s getting hit hard in the upper levels.

People wanted to promote Taillon after seven starts. No one saw anything wrong with him. But clearly there’s something he has to work on. And that’s normal.

By: john.alcorn

john.alcorn — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:35:00 +0000

Yeah, I see where you are heading, but Taillon was supposed to be so good that he shouldn’t be having problems at high A+. Eventual ace SP’s usually blow through the low minors.
Even your example Shelby Miller had a 2.89 ERA at A+ as a 20 year old last year, followed buy 2.70 at AA in the second half. The guy Taillon was compared to is Josh Beckett. When Beckett was in pro year #2 he had a sub -2 ERA at A+ and AA on his way to 4 excellent big league starts. Taillon isn’t your average prospect who should struggle with college level bats.
The bar is different here and it is concerning that NH and Co have yet to produce a homegrown MLB SP.

By: Lee Young

Lee Young — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 18:32:00 +0000

Great article. It is better to fix something in the minors (assuming JT can fix this) than in the majors. I hope he gets it back together.

I wonder if that same principle will work with Pedro? lol