Jameson Taillon DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Chicago Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon threw long toss like he did in his high-school days this offseason in hopes of being able to regain some velocity heading into the 2025 season. The 33-year-old veteran had one of the better seasons of his eight-year MLB career last year in Chicago, going 12-8 with a 3.27 ERA (3.92 FIP), a 1.13 WHIP, 125 strikeouts and 33 walks in 165 1/3 innings over 28 starts. A back issue that he pitched through diminished his velocity late in the year, but Taillon had a tidy 4.9 percent walk rate. All of his offerings have decreased in velocity the last few years, which led to a career-low strikeout rate (18.5%), and it didn't help he wasn't able to do some of his normal weight-room routines due to his back injury. Taillon's strikeouts could increase slightly if he sees an uptick in velocity, but there is also plenty of injury risk here. He's outside RotoBaller's top-100 starting pitching rankings.

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon tossed seven innings of shutout ball in Friday's 1-0 victory over the Reds, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out two. The outing was his fifth consecutive quality start and caps off an outstanding month of September for the 32-year-old, going 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. It was a solid season overall for the veteran, going 12-8 with a 3.27 ERA (4.29 SIERA), 1.13 WHIP, and a 13.6% K-BB%. The underwhelming strikeout totals depress his fantasy stock a bit, but he should be a decent back-end rotation piece for fantasy next season.

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon pitched six strong innings and picked up the win on Friday in the Cubs' 3-1 victory over the Washington Nationals. Taillon struck out four and gave up just two hits while improving his record to 11-8 on the season. The 32-year-old has bounced back strong this season after a down year in 2023, improving his ERA from 4.84 to 3.41 with today's performance. It also marked Taillon's fourth straight quality start. Fantasy managers that need help to finish the season certainly should be getting Taillon into their lineups. Though the right-hander has a 3.98 xERA to go along with his 3.41 ERA, he has been able to get reliably consistent results throughout the season. He'll finish 2024 with his final scheduled start on Wednesday when the Cubs finish a three game series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.