Still winning battles
Taillon encouraged after second surgery on arm begins to heal
Jameson Taillon thought 2019 was going to be an exceptional summer for him and the Pirates. Reality came in more swiftly than the autumn wind.
Taillon didn’t make it to the summer. The Pirates opening-day starter pitched his final game of 2019 on May 2 and left early with a right elbow flexor strain. Taillon and the team doctors spent over three months trying to rehabilitate it before the inevitable came.
Taillon had right flexor tendon repair surgery Aug. 13 at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Dr. David Altchek performed the procedure but saw the injury required ulnar collateral ligament revision (Tommy John) surgery. Taillon had been here before — he also had Tommy John surgery in 2014 — and knew that meant his season was over and he would be out all of 2020.
“I was a little disappointed coming out of my surgery that it was another Tommy John, but you have two options,” Taillon told the Post-Gazette. “It’s very clear you have two options. You either get over it, and you buy into the rehab plan, and you’re ready to do whatever you need to do to get back to this level. Or you let it defeat you, and you sulk, and you let that consume you.”
Taillon will spend his offseason in Houston and will be with the ballclub as the season winds down. The Pirates visit Milwaukee this weekend before closing the season with home series against the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds.
“The thinking here is that I’m not going to start throwing until spring training, so go home,” Taillon said. “I’ll work with my trainers there. We have a physical therapist that the team has set up for me, so I’ll be doing that four to five days a week, following the protocol, following the program. And then when I come to spring training, it’s going to be kind of go time as far as starting a throwing program.”
By the time of Taillon’s surgery, the Pirates were out of the playoff chase after being 2½ games behind the Chicago Cubs for the National League Central Division lead at the All-Star break. Taillon could only watch, and that was nearly as painful for him as the injury itself.
“Not to be arrogant or anything, but it feels like when I take the ball, I have an opportunity every fifth day to give this team something that only so many guys in the league can give,” Taillon said. “I really feel like I can be a dude every fifth day, and no matter what happened the day before or what’s going to happen tomorrow, today I feel like I can contribute six, seven quality innings, hard-fought innings. I’m giving you a big, big effort.”
The three months before the surgery weren’t easy for Taillon. He didn’t know the extent of the injury, but he knew he couldn’t help his teammates get out of a losing skid.
“It was tough not to be able to give, because I know I have a lot to give. And then No. 2, just uncertainty of not knowing what was wrong with the elbow, what’s right, what’s wrong,” Taillon said. “I was trying to throw through it. I was trying to rest, and that uncertainty was really, really hard for me. So just the gray area of not knowing.
“My leadership style is more by example. So I would like to take [Mitch] Keller out and play catch with him privately earlier, have him watch my bullpen, and I’m not around to do that, which [stinks].”
Taillon acknowledged that it took him a while to accept that he had to overcome another Tommy John surgery procedure. Still, as the rehab process kicks into high gear, he’s holding onto the small victories.
“It took a couple of days,” Taillon said. “I thought about it, bought back into the rehab, and I’m surprisingly really excited to see where this takes me. Maybe it’s just because I’m so fresh out the surgery, but every little thing has excited me. So I can compare it to my first one. So I know my fingers aren’t as swollen this time. My arm’s not as sore.
“When I got out of my splint, I’m not as sore. My range of motion’s easier. So kind of holding on to these little things, that maybe this time will be different.”