Jameson Taillon has arguably been the Yankees’ best pitcher since mid-June, pitching to a 2.28 ERA over his last 47.1 innings, a span of eight starts.
For Taillon and Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake, Taillon’s resurgence hasn’t been a reinvention, rather a return to his roots while keeping the aspects of his post-Tommy John self that he felt was working early on in his pinstriped tenure.
“We got back to adding the windup in to give him more rhythm, break things up a bit, kind of help him get back into a better flow,” Blake said. “I think we’ve kind of softened up the delivery a little bit where it’s not as tight as it was earlier in the year. He’s probably somewhere between what he was in Pittsburgh and then when he came into the season with a really short arm stroke. So I think it’s just giving him a better rhythm to fall into in both the windup and the stretch right now.”
Taillon brought back his windup delivery after getting rocked against the Phillies on June 12, allowing four runs in just a third of an inning. Taillon has consistently said he has been feeling consistently better and more confident since that disastrous outing, which at the time raised his season ERA to 5.74, and Blake feels the source is in the delivery.
“When he came back initially, it was only stretch and he was trying to own the delivery he kind of revamped in the offseason with the shorter arm stroke and make things simple,” Blake said. “When we got into the Philly outing, felt like he was putting a lot of pressure on himself, like every pitch was an intense, pressure-packed pitch because he was out of the stretch.”
Taillon tried to reinvent himself when he came to New York, looking to avoid further injury after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery. The results didn’t reflect how he was feeling from a health standpoint, but they sure have caught up of late. He has allowed just four earned runs in his last 31 innings, and in a two-start stretch last month, held a potent Red Sox lineup to one earned run over 12.1 innings.
As he has continued to evolve into a reliable arm for the Yanks, Blake has seen Taillon’s entire repertoire improve along the way.
“It’s kind of a constant evolution for him throughout the year,” Blake said. “Each outing he’s been able to build on something he did well and take that into the next one and layer on a new piece. Early on the year we saw a lot of good four seamers up in the zone, then it was probably over-reliant on the four seamer, so we added the two seamer back in. then he was throwing his curveball a little harder, and then the changeup became in play.”
With Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Domingo German, Corey Kluber and Luis Severino all out, Taillon is now the Yankees’ most important pitcher. Fortunately, he’s also been their best of late.
“Everything’s kind of rounding out,” Blake said. “He’s got multiple options in his attack plan versus right and left. I think he’s just getting more comfortable with who he is on the mound again and getting back in the swing of things in competition, so it’s been nice to see. Obviously he’s been on a nice stretch here for us.”
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