"You know it's spring training when you give up three earned runs over two innings and actually lower your era by over four runs. That was the case for Jameson Taillon, who served up two more dingers out of four total hits allowed to the Rockies on Wednesday in his second spring start. While there's certainly no room for encouragement there, it's wildly irresponsible to start freaking out."
"Taillon and other veteran pitchers know what they need to do to get ready, so these spring outings are about nothing more than ramping up their workload. In fact, many would almost prefer to be shelled rather than to deploy their full arsenals in the pursuit of meaningless stats."
"For years, the organization bucked the trend of increasing velocity in favor of starters whose fastballs sit in the low 90s. Pitchers left the Cubs for one reason or another and suddenly experienced velo spikes, largely because their new teams had different priorities."
Spring training results provide limited insight into regular season performance, particularly for veteran pitchers managing their workload. Jameson Taillon's recent outing exemplifies this principle—despite allowing four home runs in two innings, his ERA improved significantly due to the meaningless nature of spring statistics. The Cubs organization has undergone a significant philosophical shift in pitcher development, moving away from their historical preference for low-90s fastballs toward prioritizing velocity increases. This change accelerated following Tyler Zombro's arrival as VP of pitching, resulting in multiple arms displaying improved velocity this spring, including Shota Imanga and Cade Horton.
Read at Cubsinsider
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