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Morning Report: Is This the Best We Have Seen From Jameson Taillon?

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Jameson Taillon is making his sixth start of the season tonight. He has a 1.19 ERA, 0.76 WHIP and a 3:26 BB/SO ratio. In his worst outing, he allowed two runs. Taillon is dominating in Triple-A, which was the level he was at pre-injury. The difference is that back in 2013 after he got to Indianapolis, he allowed two runs in one of his best outings, not his worst.

Taillon put in three full seasons before his injury, working his way from Low-A where he made his debut in 2011, up to Indianapolis for six starts at the end of 2013. What I wanted to do here is look for his best five game stretches each year, just to compare what he is doing now, with the Taillon we saw in the past.

In 2011, Taillon was very limited with his pitches. So even when he had good games, he never pitched into the sixth inning all season. In fact, the majority of his 23 starts were four innings or less. That makes it hard to find a comparable streak to what he is doing now. His best month was June, when he had a 2.70 ERA in 16.2 innings(four starts), with no walks and 18 strikeouts. His best stretch of five games included all of June and his first July start, when he allowed two runs over 3.2 innings.

Taillon had a stretch near the beginning of the 2012 season that is very similar to his current one. That streak actually gives him something to shoot for with his start tonight. From April 13 through May 4, while with the Bradenton Marauders, he made five starts and threw 27 innings. Taillon allowed 17 hits, four walks and he had 27 strikeouts. He posted a 1.33 ERA. In his next start, he threw six shutout innings, so he would need a strong performance tonight to match this 2012 stretch.

After that impressive streak, things actually fell apart for him. I was here for it and there was some panic among the fans. From May 16 through June 13, he had an 8.13 ERA over 31 innings. He surrendered 41 hits, ten walks and opposing batters had an .891 OPS. He finally brought joy back to Pirate Land when he followed that up with a one-hit shutout over seven innings.

That wasn’t all he did that 2012 season, as he actually finished better than he started. In six outings from July 30 to August 26, he had an 0.82 ERA over 33 innings, with 20 hits, six walks and 27 strikeouts. This current streak he is on is impressive, especially due to missed time, but it’s something we saw twice with him during the 2012 season, with the last two starts of the second streak coming after he was promoted to Altoona.

In 2013, he had a terrific month of June, at least for ERA. In 23 innings, he posted a 1.96 mark. The only issue when you compare it to the current streak is that his WHIP was 1.26, which basically means an extra runner every two innings. He also had 13 strikeouts, so that was a low rate for him back then. His best five game stretch was a 2.30 ERA, which includes all of June and his July 1st start, when he allowed two runs over 4.1 innings.

So we have seen Taillon pitch this well twice, but between those two streaks in 2012, he also had his worst stretch of his career. I don’t think too many people will mind if that repeats itself, because that bad stretch will be before he gets called up. You wouldn’t mind that trade-off if it means seeing him pitch lights out after the trade deadline in the majors.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates won 10-5 over the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon. They now travel to Cincinnati to play the Reds. Jon Niese will be on the mound, making his seventh start. He has given up at least four runs in all but one of his starts this season, including all three road performances. The Reds will counter with Dan Straily, who has a 3.56 ERA in 30.1 innings. He faced the Pirates on April 29th and allowed two runs over six innings. He also faced them on April 10th as a reliever and threw three shutout innings.

In the minors, Jameson Taillon will be making his sixth start of the season. He is second in the International League in ERA with a 1.19 mark(0.02 behind first place) and first with an 0.76 WHIP (just ahead of Chad Kuhl). Taillon has not allowed more than two runs in any start.

For West Virginia, Mitch Keller also makes his sixth start. He is second in the South Atlantic League with an 0.96 ERA and first with an 0.61 WHIP. Keller is sixth in the league with 34 strikeouts.

MLB: Pittsburgh (17-14) @ Reds (13-19) 7:10 PM
Probable starter: Jon Niese (5.94 ERA, 14:25 BB/SO, 33.1 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (15-13) @ Syracuse (17-12) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (1.19 ERA, 3:26 BB/SO, 30.1 IP)

AA: Altoona (14-16) vs Trenton (16-12) 6:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: David Whitehead (5.64 ERA, 22:14 BB/SO, 22.1 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (14-15) vs Ft Myers (17-13) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex McRae (2.61 ERA, 12:11 BB/SO, 31.0 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (16-13) vs Hagerstown (20-9) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Mitch Keller (0.96 ERA, 2:34 BB/SO, 28.0 IP)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is the 11th strikeout of the game from Tyler Glasnow on Saturday. It tied his season-high for strikeouts.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

5/8: Cole Tucker added to West Virginia Power roster. Logan Ratledge assigned to Extended Spring Training.

5/7: Billy Roth added to West Virginia Power roster.

5/6: Jung-ho Kang activated from disabled list.

5/6: Mel Rojas Jr. assigned to Extended Spring Training.

5/5: Jason Rogers optioned to Indianapolis.

5/2: Jason Creasy placed on disabled list. Brandon Waddell promoted to Altoona

5/2: Tate Scioneaux promoted to Bradenton.

4/30: Jared Hughes activated from the disabled list. Rob Scahill sent to Indianapolis.

4/27: Sam Street placed on the temporary inactive list. Jose Regalado added to Bradenton.

4/25: Pedro Florimon added to Indianapolis roster. Antoan Richardson released.

4/25: Austin Meadows added to Altoona roster. Justin Maffei assigned to Morgantown.

4/25: Jake Burnette placed on disabled list. Logan Ratledge assigned to West Virginia.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Three former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, and a game from 79 years ago that seemed like the Pirates were playing the Pirates. Players born on this date include 1952 first baseman Tony Bartirome, who was signed the previous year by Pie Traynor. His playing career wasn’t that memorable, but older fans might recognize the name because he was the trainer for the Pirates for 19 seasons, include two World Series (1971 and 1979) seasons. So you could say that Traynor signed the trainer.

Also born on this date, Culley Rickard, who played for the Pirates from 1941-42 and then again in 1947. In between, he served three years in the military during WWII. He had his arm broken by a line drive during the 1942 season, with the incident happening when he was throwing batting practice. Finally, catcher Dan Sullivan, who caught one game on Opening Day of the 1886 season when the Pirates (then called Alleghenys) played their only Opening Day doubleheader. He went 0-for-4 with two errors and it ended up being the last game of his five-year career.

On this date in 1937, the Pirates faced a Braves team that used six players that had either already played for the Pirates, or would later in their career. The team was also managed by Bill McKechnie, who played for and managed the Pirates. The Braves (who were also called the Bees back then) used former/future Pirates Deb Garms, Vince DiMaggio, Al Lopez, Elbie Fletcher, Tommy Thevenow and Guy Bush in the game. Pittsburgh won and moved to 11-3 on the season. You can view the boxscore here.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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