Sunday, February 23

Welcome back to the Cubs Beat newsletter. Jordan Bastian has covered baseball for MLB.com since 2005, including the Cubs since the 2019 season.

MESA, Ariz. -- With the goal of rediscovering some of the velocity that age often steals from veteran pitchers, Jameson Taillon got back to basics this offseason. He threw long toss like he did in his high school days. He brought throwing equipment on a vacation to Italy. During a trip to Mexico, he found a tennis court and fired baseballs into a fence.

“As you get older, I think it’s important to punch back a little bit,” Taillon said. “A lot of guys change their routine as they get older, but I’m not that old. I can still lift. I can still bench and lift heavy. It’s a journey. It’s not like a magic, overnight thing, but you pour into all those different buckets and you hope a few of them click.”

Here’s the thing: Taillon is coming off an impressive and consistent 2024 campaign for the Cubs. The big right-hander is entering his third season with the North Siders, has established himself as a rotation leader in Chicago and is unafraid to speak up as a voice of leadership for a ballclub aiming for a playoff run this year.

There is little to nitpick about the final numbers turned in last season by Taillon, who had a 3.27 ERA in 165 1/3 innings with a paltry walk rate (4.9%). Taillon did that amid a few bouts with a back issue and velocity that diminished as the season wore on.

“What he was able to do last year,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said, “with what he’d probably consider was his less-than-best velocity, I think, speaks volumes to the type of guy he is, the competitor he is. He still knows how to pitch.”

Per Statcast, Taillon’s four-seamer and sinker have decreased by an average of 1.8 mph and 1.7 mph, respectively, between the ‘22 and ‘24 seasons. The cutter (4.2 mph) dropped even more in that span. The four-seamer (93.2 mph in April vs. 92.2 mph in September) and sinker (92.5 mph in April vs. 91.8 mph in September) decreased steadily last year.

Behind the scenes, Taillon said he was not able to do some of his normal weight-room routine due to a back issue that flared up at a couple points. That forced the pitcher to search for other ways to stay ahead of hitters, as his career-low strikeout rate (18.5%) made him more reliant on the Cubs’ defense.

“I took more time last year preparing and scouting lineups and taking notes than I’ve ever done in my whole career combined, probably,” Taillon said. “There’s a lot of different edges you can have. And I thought last year, being a pitch-maker -- not just having good command, but being able to make a pitch when I needed to -- I thought was a trait that shined for me.”

One place that can be spotted is in the fact that hitters posted just a .575 OPS against Taillon with runners in scoring position. The Major League average in such situations was a .741 OPS. In the process, the Cubs' starter fashioned a 76.3% left-on-base rate, which was his lowest mark since 2018.

“Last year was a really nice roadmap for me,” he said. “And then if I get another mile an hour or two back, I’d be very happy. It’d make my life easier. It’s going to be fun. Every season has a different journey. Last year, that was the hand I was dealt. I thought we did a good job making the most of it.”

Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg’s internal baseball alarm clock starts ticking when the calendar flips to January and then begins buzzing after the Super Bowl is in the books. The Hall of Famer said that is when he begins experiencing the same dream since his playing days.

“Spring Training dreams of being late to the field or late to the ballpark,” Sandberg said with a smile on Sunday, “which has been going on for 47 years. Still. I just had some. I show up at the ballpark and I look out and the team’s taking the field and I’m late. And I’m trying to get my socks on and they just won’t go on. ‘OK, the first pitch hasn’t happened yet -- I’m still good.’ This goes on for hours -- the whole night.

“There’s never a conclusion, but I know the feeling of being late. And that was one of my No. 1 pet peeves as a player, so I was always hours early to the ballpark. And so, I still have those dreams today, which is funny. That’s when I know it’s Spring Training and that it’s baseball season again.”

• Manager Craig Counsell noted that people may not see Kyle Tucker swing a bat much in morning workouts. He described Tucker as someone who likes to “keep it simple” and does a lot of his hitting in the cage. Quipped Counsell: “The hitting coaches are big fans already. He’s really good and he doesn’t hit a lot." Read more >>

• It was cool to see Sandberg in camp this weekend, along with Cubs greats Fergie Jenkins, Mark Grace, Shawon Dunston and Rick Sutcliffe. Grace and Dunston arrived Saturday to the surprise of Sandberg. Read more >>

• Counsell shouldered the blame for communication issues he had with Seiya Suzuki in his first year as Cubs manager. They are already getting to work on improving their dialogue for the season ahead. Read more >>

• Matt Shaw has been slowed at the start of camp by left oblique soreness, but the Cubs’ top prospect (No. 19 on Pipeline’s Top 100) has already started ramping up his baseball activities. He remains the top contender for the third-base job. Read more >>

“It’s the respect part, too. It’s, ‘Hey, these guys had pretty amazing careers. You might not realize it at the time, because it’s a little before when you were watching baseball growing up. But go look at the back of their baseball card and look at the numbers. They’re pretty special.’ It was a different time and the game was a little bit different, but their experiences still shine through.” -- Outfielder Ian Happ, on younger players chatting with Cubs greats in camp

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