Taillon is looking forward to throwing the slider he developed last summer for an entire season in 2019.
"I think with that pitch," Taillon said, "I can take a big step forward." The 27-year-old added the slider to his arsenal in May, utilizing the pitch at an 18.2 percent clip while dropping his reliance on the fastball (64.1 percent to 57.5 percent). The righty compiled a 2.63 ERA in 133.1 innings from June 1 to season's end, registering 17 quality starts in 21 appearances. He also lowered his walks total by nearly one full batter (3.1 BB/9 to 2.2 BB/9) and maintained his strikeout rate (8.4 K/9 to 8.4 K/9). Perhaps most importantly, Taillon completed his first full season in the major leagues without incident. Pittsburgh has done little to improve upon a mediocre offense thus far in the offseason, but Taillon is a good bet to put up strong numbers once again in 2019.