7 years agoPittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jameson Taillon appears ready for the regular season after another strong outing on Tuesday in the team's final spring training game. The right-hander tossed three innings of shutout baseball, allowing only two hits and striking out four. He ends the spring with a 2.13 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings, with only six hits and three walks allowed. Taillon went 8-7 with a 4.44 ERA in 2017, pitching only 133 2/3 innings due to surgery for testicular cancer. The former No. 2 prospect in baseball has a clean bill of health now, however, and should have a bounce-back season. Despite the lack of results, he upped his strikeout rate from 20.3 percent to 21.3 percent and maintained a solid walk rate (7.8 percent), which was good for a 3.89 xFIP. He'll get the ball in Pittsburgh's opening night on April 2.--Matt Wilkes
Source: MLB.com