2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Cy Young: Jameson Taillon

After taking a big step forward in 2018, the Pittsburgh Pirates appear to have a bonafide ace sitting at the top of their rotation in the form of Jameson Taillon

Now that the 2018 regular season has come to an end for the Pittsburgh Pirates we can look back on it and examine the good and the bad. As part of the good, a lucky few will be winners of Rum Bunter Awards this week.

We will start with Rum Bunter’s 2018 Pirates’ Cy Young Award winner. While a strong argument could be made for Trevor Williams, the nod goes to Jameson Taillon.

During spring training, I predicted that Taillon would be a top-10 pitcher in the National League by the end of the season. Well, Taillon’s 3.7 fWAR in 2018 ranked 11th in the NL. So, I almost got one right for once.

In 32 starts this season, Taillon pitched 191 innings, the first two complete games of his career, he owned a 3.20 ERA, and a 3.46 FIP. Other than ERA, all of these led the Pirate pitching staff. His 3.7 fWAR was a staff high, too. On a broader level, Taillon’s ERA and FIP both ranked 11th in the NL, his 5.9% walk rate was 7th best in the league, and his 22.8% strikeout ranked 18th.

After a slow start to the season, Taillon starting throwing a slider during a start against the Cincinnati Reds on May 22nd. From this point on, Taillon was one of the best starting pitchers in the NL.

After adding his slider Taillon owned a 2.97 ERA, 3.20 FIP, a 5.2% walk rate, 23.4% strikeout rate, and he allowed just 14 home runs in 145 2/3 innings pitched (0.86 HR/9). Additionally, Taillon allowed three earned runs or less in each of his final 22 starts of the season.

Moving forward, the Pirates have a legitimate staff ace in Taillon. When the team drafted him with the #2 overall pick in the 2010 draft a staff anchor/ace is what the Pirates saw in Taillon’s future, and that future has become the present.