Breaking News: Jameson Taillon Treated for Testicular Cancer

BREAKING NEWS: The Pittsburgh Pirates announced Monday that righty starting pitcher Jameson Taillon had surgery to remove testicular cancer, explaining why he was recently put on the disabled list.

On Sunday morning, seemingly out of nowhere the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they placed right-handed starter Jameson Taillon on the 10 Day Disabled List.  This moved did not make sense at first as there was no removal from a game early or a report of Taillon looking injured. Originally the team called it a groin injury, which came as a relief to some fans.

Jameson Taillon has looked every part of what was expected from the former #2 overall pick. Despite this, he has worked through a lot of adversity in his career. This has included the dreaded Tommy-John Surgery, a Sports Hernia, and essentially missing two years of baseball. Team supporters were happy to hear that the DL stint was due to a groin injury and not arm related. However, that changed when the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that Taillon had surgery this afternoon. This surgery removed a suspected to be Testicular Cancer growth.  According to the team’s website:

"“The Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Monday that Jameson Taillon was treated this morning at Allegheny General Hospital for suspected testicular cancer.After alerting the Pirates medical staff of an abnormality, Taillon consulted with Dr. John C. Lyne, MD., over the weekend. Dr. Lyne performed surgery on Taillon this morning. The recommended treatment plan is pending further testing. “"

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Of all the injuries Taillon has dealt with in his career, this may be the toughest one.  Cancer is not a baseball injury, but a life changing disease. Baseball is put aside right now. Additionally, if you are a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, rooting for Taillon’s cancer recovery should be a priority going forward.

The one piece of optimism here may be that they performed surgery and were able to remove it. This suggests that they found it early enough before it spread. In the hockey world, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Phil Kessel had a similar operation done early in his career. The good news is that Taillon’s situation sounds similar to Kessel’s. However, there are still a lot of details to come out yet about the situation going forward. As of now, Taillon will remain on the 10-day DL according to the team site. We will continue to post updates as we come across them. For now, thoughts and prayers to Jameson Taillon, his family, his friends, and the Pittsburgh Pirates.