Pittsburgh Pirates Promote Jameson Taillon

The Pirates will promote top prospect Jameson Taillon. We all expect him to dominate, so pick him up while you still can.

The Pittsburgh Pirates called up one of their top pitching prospects. While it wasn’t Tyler Glasnow, like many expected, they did promote another prospect in Jameson Taillon. He will make his debut on Wednesday night against the New York Mets. This is a good first matchup for him, so go out and add him.

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While quickly moving through the ranks between 2011 and 2013, he missed both the 2014 and 2015 seasons as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. After a three-year absence, Taillon came out like a bat out of hell.

In 10 starts this season, he is 4-2 with a 2.04 ERA and 0.81 WHIP. He has 61 strikeouts and six walks in 61.2 innings. These numbers are at or better than before he underwent surgery. He has a 25.9 strikeout rate, 2.5 walk rate and 0.29 HR/9. I don’t think he’ll be able to keep these numbers up on the big-league level, he’s better than some of the members in the Pirates rotation.

Gerrit Cole is the only starter with an ERA below 3.00, 2.85 to be exact. Jeff Locke, Jon Niese and Juan Nicasio have ERAs above 4.00 and Francisco Liriano‘s is above 5.00. The Pirates are 30-26, second in the National League Central. If the team wants to compete for the rest of the season, a move needed to be made.

There is the question that Jameson Taillon could spend some time in the bullpen. With the long absence between throwing a ball, manager Clint Hurdle suggested that a permanent rotation spot is no sure thing.

If that is the case, I’m not completely against it. While I would like him to remain in the rotation, he could be a big improvement to the bullpen. Besides Mark Melancon, the rest have struggled. Set-up man Tony Watson has a 4.50 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 24 innings.

The Mets offense struggled in May and that trend continues this month. The team finished last in batting average (.211), 27th in on-base percentage (.287) and 28th in runs scored (87). In only four games this month, the team has .248 average and .345 OBP.

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Fantasy owners are already jumping on the bandwagon, sight unseen. He’s been added in three percent of ESPN leagues over the last week. He’s owned in 14.1 percent of leagues. An owner in my league dropped Edinson Volquez for him. So, if you have a disposable member of your roster, why not take a chance on Jameson Taillon?