Pittsburgh Pirates top prospect Jameson Taillon will be heading to the Arizona Fall League this year, Pirates Prospects has learned. A few weeks ago the initial AFL rosters were released, with Alen Hanson, Alex Dickerson, Gift Ngoepe, Tyler Waldron, and Zack Thornton all attending. Taillon is a new addition to the list, and when combined with Hanson and Dickerson, makes this year a pretty exciting group to follow.
Taillon spent the 2013 season between Double-A and Triple-A. In 110.1 innings with Altoona he posted a 3.67 ERA, along with an 8.6 K/9 and a 2.9 BB/9. Those numbers were inflated due to a ten run outing in 3.1 innings on July 13th. The right-hander was later promoted to Indianapolis, where he made six starts. In that time, Taillon put up a 3.89 ERA in 37 innings, with a 9.0 K/9 and a 3.9 BB/9. He also made one playoff appearance, where he threw five shutout innings, giving up one hit, five walks, and striking out five.
In total, Taillon threw 152.1 innings between the regular season and the playoffs. Last year he threw 142 innings, so he didn’t see a big jump from year to year. That gives him plenty of innings left over for the AFL, where he will almost certainly be a starting pitcher. Gerrit Cole threw 15 innings in the AFL in 2011, although his start was delayed since he was new to pro ball and hadn’t pitched since his final start with UCLA. Taillon could get a full season of starts, which usually amounts to 25-30 innings.
