Taillon thinks he can step up his game with Cubs
Free-agent addition Jameson Taillon should improve the depth of the Cubs' starting rotation.
But the former New York Yankees right-hander thinks he still has untapped potential and is hoping the Cubs can bring it out of him.
The process got off to a good start during the recruiting process. Rather than visit Taillon himself, Cubs president Jed Hoyer sent assistant general manager-pitching coordinator Craig Breslow to New York on a solo mission.
"The Cubs were the only team that went out of their way to meet with me in person," Taillon said in a Zoom call with reporters Monday. "So that went a long way for me, just to be able to sit down and have the conversation face-to-face was really nice.
"Me and Breslow just sat there and talked for like two hours. We were probably planning on like a 30-minute meeting and we were kind of nerding out on pitching there and we just kept going and going."
Taillon said Breslow brought a slideshow and some ideas about his pitch mix. Last season with Yankees, Taillon, 30, went 14-5 with a 3.91 ERA and was among the league leaders with 32 games started.
Taillon has had two Tommy John surgeries, in 2014 and 2019. The Houston native was the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2010 and broke into the big leagues with Pittsburgh in 2016.
"When I had my second Tommy John in 2019, I did make some mechanical changes," he said. "Once I did that, I just naturally got a lot more carry on the four-seam. The slider changed shape a little bit. The two-seam maybe took a tiny step back in terms of profile and movement. Definitely the pitch mix did change."
Taillon said he used to throw sort of a combination slider-cutter, but has since split that into two separate pitches, which he is hoping to improve with help from the Cubs pitching development staff - which has had success teaching sliders the past few years to guys like Justin Steele and Adbert Alzolay. These were some of the topics discussed with Breslow.
"Trust the curveball. That was one of my best performing pitches, let's throw that," Taillon said. "Then from my perspective too, if I could find a way to kind of bag up my best version of my slider and my best version of my cutter. How can we limit the variability in those pitches? How can we make my slider the best pitch every single time and not have the shape change from outing to outing and stuff?
"That's something I'm really interested in hammering down. Just early on, I'll probably look to throw the curveball a little more, the cutter a little bit more and then just really lock in the pitch shapes."
Taillon said he got good reviews on the Cubs from Yankees teammates Anthony Rizzo and Scott Effross, as well as former Pirates teammate Trevor Williams, who spent a half season with the Cubs in 2021.
He missed the Dansby Swanson news while attending the wedding of former Yankees pitcher Jordan Montgomery, but said he quickly caught up with Swanson by phone.
"I don't think he would have picked Chicago if he wasn't convinced we could build a winner and get back to that level," Taillon said. "So really excited to see what he's all about. I've heard great things. I've heard he's super competitive. He's got an edge and a desire to win."
Back in his Pittsburgh days, Taillon made four starts at Wrigley Field, so he's looking forward to making that his home park.
"One of my first road trips was to Chicago when I was with Pittsburgh," he said. "I think it was a Friday day game with (Jake) Arrieta on the mound when he was untouchable.
"I remember just taking a step back and feeling the environment. There's nothing better than a day game at Wrigley in the summer. I remember thinking at the time, 'This is the big leagues right here. This is The Show.'"
Taillon also appreciated videos the Cubs sent him, hyping up the history and Wrigleyville experience. He's hoping the stadium can get back to feeling like it did in 2016.
"Playing against the Cubs when they were really good and the place was absolutely rocking was a really cool environment," he said. "Hopefully we can bring a winning team to Wrigley. When I was there from '16-19. it was a crazy place to play."
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports