Pittsburgh Pirates starter Jameson Taillon has not pitched since the beginning of May, and now he will miss the rest of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The #Pirates have announced that Jameson Taillon had surgery….and also had to have another Tommy John surgery to repair his UCL pic.twitter.com/7pIZBeohBt
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) August 14, 2019
The Pirates were hoping that Taillon would be able to build on a 2018 where he went 14-10 with a 3.20 ERA and a 3.46 FIP in 32 starts. However, after making just seven starts this season, Taillon's 2019 is officially over.
Although this is hardly welcome news for Pirates fans, the team would rather take precautions with their young ace than have him rush back to make a few starts in a season that is already lost.
Pittsburgh was 44-45 at the All-Star break, and just 2.5 games out of the lead in the National League Central following a series win against the Milwaukee Brewers. However, their horrid run differential (-36) suggested that they were bound to regress significantly in the second half.
Indeed, the Pirates have been one of the worst teams in all of baseball, going just 6-24 with a -53 run differential entering play on Wednesday.
Taillon has been sorely missed, as Pittsburgh's rotation has a 5.26 ERA and ranks 23rd in fWAR. The Chris Archer trade has backfired spectacularly, as Archer has a 5.23 ERA in 21 starts while Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow look like future stars.
Trevor Williams has been a major disappointment as well, posting a 5.25 ERA in 18 starts just one year after he led the Pirates in ERA (3.11).
Needless to say, Pittsburgh's rotation has taken its fair share of hits this season. They will hope that Taillon can recover and help anchor the staff in 2020.
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