Taillon Anxious To Get To Big Leagues

PITTSBURGH—Jameson Taillon was one of the participants in the Pirates’ annual fan festival in mid-December.

Signing autographs and posing for pictures in a convention center across the Allegheny River from PNC Park is the closest the righthander has come to pitching in the major leagues.

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Now 24, Taillon is getting antsy to make his debut.

It is closing on six years since the Pirates used the second overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft to select him from The Woodlands High School in suburban Houston, and he has missed the past two seasons because of injuries.

“I think by midseason I should be ready,” Taillon said of reaching the majors.

Taillon tore an elbow ligament during spring training in 2014 and had season-ending Tommy John surgery. He had finished the previous season by making six starts at Triple-A Indianapolis.

Taillon was on the verge of returning to Indianapolis’ rotation last June when he felt abdominal pain during his fifth and final start in extended spring training. He wound up having another season-ending surgery.

However, Taillon insists that the last two years have not been wasted. He has lost 20 pounds off his 6-foot-5 frame and is spending the offseason working out in Houston with Pirates closer Mark Melancon and Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon.

“It really bugged me when I heard people say I had two lost years,” Taillon said. “Because those two lost years, I was working with the best pitching coaches, away from the drawing board, getting to refine what I was weak at. I got to work out more and get on a better eating schedule. I think that ‘two lost years’ is kind of bogus, because I definitely got a lot better. I didn’t stall out by any means.”

Taillon will get the chance to start proving that again in spring training. If all goes well, he will start the season at Indianapolis—and hopefully end it in Pittsburgh.

PITTBURGERS

• Former major league infielder and coach Joey Cora was hired to manage Double-A Altoona. Cora was the Chicago White Sox’s third base coach under manager Ozzie Guillen when they won the World Series in 2005 and most recently served as an analyst for MLB Network.

• Tom Prince was promoted to minor league field coordinator after spending last season managing Altoona, his 11th as a skipper in the Pirates’ farm system.