ST. LOUIS — The Pittsburgh Pirates have shut down a few rehabbing prospects, including Jameson Taillon, due to the end of the minor league season. The Gulf Coast League season ended last week, limiting a lot of the rehab opportunities for guys going through that process.
In Taillon’s case, he had inguinal hernia surgery on July 8th, and was expected to miss eight weeks. That would put him back on track to return this week, but with the minor leagues wrapping up, there would be limited opportunities for him to pitch. I heard last week that Taillon went home, and Neal Huntington confirmed why before tonight’s game.
“To give him and a lot of the other rehabbers a break, we sent most of those guys home for a little bit of a window between the end of the Gulf Coast League season and the beginning of the instructional league season,” Huntington said. “Jameson will come back at the beginning of the instructional league season and continue his rehab. Everything has gone well to date.”
The current plan is for Taillon to return around the first week of instructs.
Casey Sadler Preparing For Spring Training 2016
Casey Sadler is still rehabbing from his forearm strain, and working back from his PRP injection last month. Huntington said that Sadler was one of the guys given a break recently.
“Casey has continued to work back through,” Huntington said. “Sometimes guys respond very quickly, and sometimes they take a little bit longer. Casey’s had more good days than bad days, but has had some bumps along the way and the continued soreness and that continued discomfort in there. He’s working back from the PRP injection.”
Huntington noted that the Pirates are currently prepping to get Sadler ready to make the club out of Spring Training next year, while noting that he hasn’t started throwing yet. As for whether Sadler might eventually need more than rest, it sounds like the Pirates are sticking to the current approach.
“The best we can do is work off the science that we have, and work off the images that we have,” Huntington said. “And at this point in time, the prognosis is that the PRP injection, rest, and rehab should put him back on track to be able to compete to make our club in Spring Training. If we had prolonged challenges, then maybe there is another step that needs to be taken. But right now all of the information we have leads to the steps that we’re taking being the right steps.”
Keeping Sadler on the same approach makes sense. If they decided to have surgery now, he would be out for the 2016 season. If he had surgery in the off-season or at the start of 2016, he’d also miss the 2016 season. All signs have pointed to Sadler just needing rest, rehab, and PRP (based off Huntington’s comments and Sadler’s comments before), and the Pirates have no reason to go a different direction at the moment.
Other Notes
**Clay Holmes is one of the guys who was sent home. Huntington said he probably won’t attend instructs, as the Pirates are giving him some rest and letting him return in Spring Training 2016 after a full off-season. Holmes is healthy, which I learned before leaving Bradenton, and which Huntington confirmed.
**Angel Sanchez will have Tommy John surgery this week, Huntington confirmed. Ryan Palencer reported the other day that Sanchez would have the procedure, which will put him out for the 2016 season.
**Orlando Castro had labrum surgery last off-season and missed the entire season. Huntington said that the Pirates felt it was best to send Castro home and prepare for Spring Training, rather than sending him to instructs.
