PITTSBURGH — Jameson Taillon has been extremely good in his first year with the Pirates. The 24-year-old right-hander continues to add to his repertoire, as well. Facing the Milwaukee Brewers for the fourth time on Friday, he took a mature approach to the cat-and-mouse game of hitter adjustments.
“I definitely think they know what I bring to the table,” he said. “I know what their guys like to do. But at the end of the day, it’s just about executing. Six days ago, I didn’t execute. Tonight, I went out and executed some pitches. They can know what I want to do all night long. If I don’t make mistakes, I come out fine.”
But that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t been working on things. In particular, he has been working on using his changeup in different situations, and potentially as an out pitch.
“I threw a couple good ones, I threw a couple bad ones,” he said. “One thing I think I’ve gotten good at is adjusting from changeup to changeup, remembering what the bad one felt like and understanding how to get the good one back to where it needs to be. I got some strikeouts on it, which is rare. That’s something I’d like to incorporate and make it an advantage-count pitch, not just a behind-the-count pitch.”
In the fifth inning Friday night, Orlando Arcia fouled off five straight pitches against Taillon; a combination of fastball and curveballs around the zone. Taillon threw a curveball out of the zone that Arcia laid off. After two more foul balls, Taillon pulled the string on a changeup and got Arica to swing and miss.
The development of the changeup as an out pitch for Taillon is important. As a pitcher that likes to stay around the strike zone, it will keep hitters from sitting fastball. A mis-timed changeup can result in a weak ground ball.
“It’s something that us pitchers like to talk about,” Taillon said. “You get a guy in swing mode so he fouls some pitches off. He’s swing happy. I’m around the zone on a lot of pitches. I thought it was a prefect time to call a changeup. Cervelli did a great job there and I executed it.”
It’s another sign that as impressive as Taillon has been as a rookie, he still has room to grow as a pitcher.
NEW NORMAL
The Pirates changed up the lineup over the road trip, with Josh Bell taking the second spot, Starling Marte sliding to the sixth spot and David Freese moving down to seventh. That’ll be the lineup tonight.
Here's our lineup for tonight.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/9KvveHHcz3
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) September 3, 2016
COLE TRAIN GETTING WARMED UP
Pitcher Gerrit Cole throw a 30-pitch bullpen session with all fastballs, and felt fine afterwards.
Gerrit Cole threw 30 fastballs today and reported feeling well. He expects to throw another bullpen session either Monday or Tuesday.
— Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) September 3, 2016
