Pittsburgh Pirates: Q and A with Prospect Taylor Hearn

Minors: The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Taylor Hearn as the second piece of the Mark Melancon trade. Hearn made an immediate, positive impression on the organization and fans.

Hearn was sought after by the Pittsburgh Pirates before he was acquired in 2016. The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Taylor Hearn when he graduated high school in 2012. Hearn, who was taken in the 22nd round, did not sign and attended junior college instead. This ended up working out for the big lefty, as he eventually transferred to Oklahoma Baptist University. He was very impressive there and was drafted in the 5th round of the 2015 draft.

The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Taylor Hearn along with Felipe Rivero on July 30th, 2016. Hearn came over and immediately showed why the Bucs have coveted him. With a fastball that sits in the mid-90s, some reports were that his fastball hit 100 unofficially a few times. Along with that, he put up gaudy numbers in his short time with the Bucs last season. He owned a 1-1 record with a 1.99 earned run average. Also, in the eight games he appeared in he racked up 14.3 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. Furthermore, his strikeout to walk ratio was strong at 3.6 strikeouts to every one walk. Hearn pitched out of the bullpen at first but also made two starts also.

Hearn is now entering his first full season with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. With that, he took some time to answer some questions on his expectations entering spring along with his thoughts on the organization.

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1) Being this is your first Spring Training in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, what do you hope to show them that they may not have seen from you yet?

"Just want to show them I can be consistent pitcher each day and be the same person when everything is working and when everything isn’t!"

2) What kind of off-season work did you do in terms of trying to take the next step for the 2017 season?

"Trying to be more consistent with my mechanics and continuing to get more comfortable with my slider and throwing it in fastball counts"

3) What are some things you are hoping to accomplish this spring as you prepare for the long season?

"To have healthy year and continuing to make the next better than the last day! Just being a consistent pitcher"

4) What are some season goals you have set for yourself this year?

"Nothing major or out the ordinary but just to continuing to throw my slider more often and trust it more than I did last year! It helped me out a lot keeping the hitter off balance and off my fastball !"

5) What is one thing you would like Pittsburgh Pirates fans to know about you as a player?

"For one I’m very excited to be over here couldn’t be anymore happier everybody in the organization really treats people like family and the city is amazing but that as a player I’m going to always be hard working and continue to get better everyday and continue to pray everyday and Let it be Gods will in my life and his timing on things and we will see where he leads me!"

Next: Q and A with Prospect Kemp

As always, thanks to Taylor for answering some questions here at Rum Bunter. Hearn will likely be at High-A Bradenton to start this season. Furthermore, if he gets off to a fast start there is a good chance that he will be promoted quickly to Double-A. Being he was a college drafted player he could very well be big league ready by 2018.

Also, all stats courtesy of Baseball Reference

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