Mar 11, 2017 3 min read

BRADENTON, Fla. – For more than two years, Jameson Taillon waited.

Selected by Pittsburgh with the second overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft, between Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, Taillon was slowed by Tommy John surgery in spring 2014 and a sports hernia operation the following summer.

Taillon did not throw a meaningful pitch in a professional game from Sept. 1, 2013, until last April 13, then dominated Triple-A with a 2.04 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and .196 opponent average. The right-hander made his big league debut June 8 and went 5-4 with a 3.38 ERA in 18 starts, striking out 85 and walking 17 in 104 innings.

“I had two years to really kind of go back to the drawing board and rebuild myself,” the 6-foot-5 Texas explained. “I could say, ‘Hey maybe I am throwing too many fastballs at the belt. Maybe my fastball is too flat right now. How can I fix that? What can I do to get better? What can I do to get stronger?’

“So I got to work on a lot of stuff – and, no question, it all also made me a lot hungrier to get back.”

He arrived at spring training this year projected as the Pirates’ No. 2 starter behind Gerrit Cole.

“It’s nice to kind of done a little circuit and know how it works, and to have the confidence of your manager and your team,” Taillon said. “But that being said, I’m still preparing as if I’m not guaranteed a spot, and I think that will serve me well.”

After a long stretch where his goals included fully extending his arm or maybe lifting light weights, Taillon can now focus attention on refinements.

Now 25, Taillon was drafted from The Woodlands High School in Texas.

“He’s hungry,” Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage said. “He just wants to keep on learning and he wants to be one of the best of the best. I say all the time: his maturity is way beyond his years. Plus, he’s got a good feel for the game. Some people are born to pitch. And I think Jameson is one of those people.”

David Washington hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Baltimore Orioles a 7-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla.

Pittsburgh, which had won four straight spring training games, was led by Adam Frazier, who, drove in three runs. Frazier’s two-run single gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead in the second inning.

Calyton Holmes was Pittsburgh’s starting pitcher. He gave up two runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings.

Pittsburgh infielder Jung Ho Kang was placed on the restricted list by the Pirates while he is delayed in South Korea by visa issues related to a recent DUI arrest.

“It just is a reflection of the reality that he’s not here today on March 11, and we need to get him into Bradenton to prepare for the 2017 season,” Pirates president Frank Coonelly said Saturday.

While on the restricted list, Kang does not count against the 40-man roster or the 25-man active roster.

Kang received an eight-month suspended prison sentence last week after a DUI arrest in December, his third in South Korea. The sentence was suspended for two years.

“This is not a disciplinary matter,” Coonelly said. “And if he is not here and not available to play on a restricted list, he wouldn’t be paid – but it’s not a disciplinary matter.”