Pittsburgh Pirates Promote Jameson Taillon to Double-A

The Pittsburgh Pirates Jameson Taillon has been considered one of the best pitching prospects in the Pirates system and in all of the minor leagues since the Bucs took him with the number two overall pick in the 2010 draft.  The Bucs gave the right hander a $6.5 million bonus.

The team announced today that Taillon will make the jump to Double A Altoona.  Taillon will make his first start on August 21 against Trenton.  It will be a big game for Altoona as they are trying to get into the playoff mix in the Eastern League.

It will also put him in the same rotation as Gerrit Cole, which is what Pirates fans are looking forward to as they eye the Bucs future rotation.

Taillon has made 23 starts for the Bradenton Marauders and has pitched 125 innings. The strikeout numbers have been down a little bit lately and on the season the big Texan has struckout 98 batters in High-A. Taillon has allowed 109 hits and walked just 37 batters.

The overall numbers don’t especially shine until you see how he has performed over his past ten games. His earned run average is 2.98 in those games when he pitched 57.1 innings, allowed 43 hits and struckout 36. He has held the opposition to a .205 batting average.  The only thing that really stands out is the six homers allowed and some extended consecutive game streaks when he allowed multiple walks.

Now when will he pitch in Altoona?  It would appear that Taillon and Cole will go back to back at Altoona on August 26 and 27.  Then the postseason would be perfect.  Go Curve!