Taillon on board with unique spring approach

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pirates Opening Day starter Jameson Taillon is preparing for this season by pitching to familiar faces. From those familiar faces comes instant feedback.

“I’m not going to go up to a Phillies hitter and ask what they’re seeing from me,” Taillon said. “Here, you can just go talk to our hitters and get instant feedback. Our position players are pretty in tune with what’s going on.”

He pitched a three-inning simulated game at Pirate City on Saturday morning as the team takes a new approach to preparing its four established starters.

This is part of baseball’s information revolution: players preparing in controlled environments. That’s also true of hitters taking less outdoor batting practice, choosing instead to work with video and machines throwing whatever pitches they’re likely to face in that game.

“That’s where the work is really done,” Taillon said. “You’re at Wrigley Field, and you’ll see the hitters in there talking and watching video and really preparing for that game.”

Not everyone was immediately sold on the idea.

“I shied away from it a little bit,” right-hander Joe Musgrove said. “When you’re only getting one or two outings against actual competition, it can be tough. I’ve enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to.”

With four starters -- Taillon, Musgrove, Chris Archer and Trevor Williams -- locked into spots, they’ll conduct their early spring in an environment in which they throw 20 pitches per inning and work on a variety of situations.

“You can throw a fastball up and in, and then go ask how it looked out of my hand. 'Did it look the same?' That kind of thing,” Musgrove said. “It’s stuff you can’t ask an opposing hitter.”

After reaching four innings in the simulated games, the Pirates will use the starters in traditional spring games for the final few starts.

“There’s a little more freedom back there,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “The nice part is, we’ve got Major League hitters hitting. I listen to the reports and then grab some video. Our professional roster -- Corey Dickerson, Adam Frazier -- they’re going over and giving our guys good at-bats.

“Time’s gonna tell. This is the first time we’ve done it this way. We’ll see what the results are getting out of the blocks. We’ll see how it carries throughout the season.”

Game notes

• The Pirates beat the Yankees, 8-7, on Saturday afternoon. Both teams collected 14 hits. Both teams used seven pitchers. Dickerson, in the designated hitter role, doubled and tripled in three at-bats, driving in two runs, and is hitting .500 this spring.

• Hurdle got a look at three of his end-of-game relievers on Saturday. Felipe Vazquez, Keone Kela and Richard Rodriguez all threw one scoreless inning, with Vazquez and Kela recording two strikeouts apiece. “They’re good men to have in play, there’s no doubt,” Hurdle said.

• Outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall left the game in the second inning with what the club called "general lower extremity tightness." He said it’s not serious, but he will be re-examined on Sunday.

NRI

Infielder Alfredo Reyes was added to the Major League camp as a non-roster invitee, giving the Pirates 62 players.

Up next

The Pirates will send their top prospect, right-hander Mitch Keller (No. 19 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100), to the mound against the Rays in Bradenton on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. ET. It’ll be Keller’s second spring start. He’ll be followed by Clay Holmes, Kyle Crick, Nick Burdi, Aaron Slegers, Geoff Hartlieb and Luis Escobar.