There may be some uncertainty hanging over Jameson Taillon’s first season in pinstripes now that he has a second Tommy John surgery in his rearview, but the new Yankee starter brings a new reason to believe that he can stay on the mound in 2021.
Taillon has changed his delivery for the upcoming season, shortening his arm action when he pitches in an effort to relieve stress on his elbow, and the righty told Carton & Roberts on Wednesday that he’s already felt some significant differences after starting to change his mechanics in his latter days with the Pirates before he was traded this offseason.
“I worked with some of the PTs and pitching coaches in Pittsburgh, I worked with an outside place that does pitching analysis and body mechanics, and just started changing the way I threw, the way I move, the way I worked in the weight room, and it feels great,” Taillon said. “I can finally talk on the phone for more than five minutes without my elbow hurting. I can play catch every day and throw my bullpens with full intensity. It makes throwing a lot of fun again.”
Taillon looks like he’s been having fun on the mound so far this spring, pitching a perfect 7-pitch inning in his spring training debut before tossing two shutout innings in his last outing. Most importantly for Taillon, his arm feels healthy, which he couldn’t say following his first Tommy John surgery seven years ago.
“I had my first Tommy John surgery in 2014, and it just seemed like after that first surgery, nothing ever felt quite right in my elbow,” Taillon said. “I didn’t change anything specific with my mechanics, I just thought ‘Hey, it’s something a lot of players have to deal with, it’s just something I have to go through.’”
Taillon continued with his usual mechanics, but after he injured his elbow again in 2019 and needed another Tommy John surgery, he realized something about his routine had to change if he was to salvage his MLB career.
“Once it happened a second time, I was like ‘OK, this was my elbow, my body trying to tell me something, I need to change something up.,” Taillon said. “’If I keep going the same way here, I’m just crazy.’”
Taillon did make that change, and he’s hoping it will pay dividends in 2021, as do the Yankees, who need all the starting pitching they can get after losing James Paxton and Masahiro Tanaka, while Luis Severino continues to recover from his own Tommy John surgery. The only question for Taillon will be his workload, especially now that he’s returning from a second Tommy John, and he told Carton & Roberts that he is meeting with the team in the next week or so to go over expectations for the season.
But as long as Taillon’s new delivery is keeping him pain-free, he doesn’t see why he would need an innings limit.
“The early thought here is we don’t need to cap it or put a limit on it,” Taillon said. “If I’m healthy and cruising and the elbow feels great and my body is responding…there’s no need to cap me at a certain number or certain innings. We’re going to listen to the body and go from there. I made 32 starts and threw 190 innings before with a sore elbow, so I don’t see if I’m healthy and feeling good that I can’t just keep rolling.”
Listen to Taillon's entire appearance on Carton & Roberts below!
Follow WFAN's afternoon team on Twitter: @CartonRoberts, @EvanRobertsWFAN, @TommyLugauer, and @CMacWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
