Iowa Cubs Manager Marty Pevey Gives Updates on Jameson Taillon, Patrick Wisdom Rehabs

St. Paul – The Chicago Cubs have two players who are a step closer to reinforcing the Major League roster: Jameson Taillon and Patrick Wisdom, who are currently rehabbing with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. 

Taillon made his second rehab start of the season on Friday night following a start on the 15-day injured list with lower back issues. His start with Double-A Tennessee Smokies was less than fruitful, only throwing 2 ⅔ innings and allowing six hits, one walk, three earned runs, and striking out four batters on 52 pitches. 

Fortunately for Taillon, it was only a rehab start, but there are great goals ahead for him following a mediocre first season with the Cubs in 2023. No matter the results of his start on Friday night, the goal was to ensure Taillon could throw over 60 pitches and build up his arm strength following his shutdown in Spring Training. 

“Having Jameson here too, we just need to get him healthy to get us in a good position to compete in the division in Chicago, said Iowa Cubs manager Marty Pevey. “It’s a wide-open division. We have as good a chance to win it as anybody, so getting him healthy and ready to compete for a championship team in Chicago is super important.”

On top of throwing sixty pitches, Taillon also needed to control the hit game and ensure he allowed fewer runners on base than his previous start. Nonetheless, on a rehab assignment in early April, the goal is always to ensure strength is there, no matter the results of opposing hitters. 

“We’re going to try and get him up beyond 60 pitches and then see how he feels. We just want to make sure that he builds himself up,” said Pevey.

Taillon accomplished the goal by throwing 68 pitches and landing 46 for strikes through 3 ⅔ innings. He exited the game with the bases loaded but was relieved by Hayden Wesneski to escape the damage. He finished his second rehab outing with three hits, one walk, four strikeouts, and no runs allowed. 

Wisdom had a scheduled off-day on Friday night after playing five straight games with the I-Cubs. Like Taillon, Wisdom also started the season on the IL with back issues, but since joining the I-Cubs on April 6, his performance at the plate has shown positive results in his injury healing. 

In 18 plate appearances, Wisdom has had a triple slash of  .333/.389/.800, a 1.189 OPS, two home runs, and seven runs batted in. With strong numbers at the plate, Wisdom has shown that his back injury is behind him, encouraging results for his return to the Cubs active roster and positive contributions to the Iowa Cubs lineup. 

Not only has Wisdom’s offense been a great help to the lineup, but his leadership for younger prospects such as Owen Caissie, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Alexander Canario, BJ Murray Jr, and Matt Mervis has been an encouragement for clubhouse morale this past week as well. 

“We’re very fortunate here to have three guys who have the potential to be superstar-type players. And having a guy like David [Peralta] here, a guy like David Bote, and a guy like Patrick Wisdom to show these guys the way, from body control to containing your emotions to just playing the game. I think it’s super important and super imperative that they watch these guys prepare and watch how they perform and play in the game, even when they’re not successful,” Pevey said. 

The off-day provided the perfect opportunity for Wisdom to give more of his own ‘wisdom’ to these young stars on the bench between innings. The results favored well as the Iowa Cubs won. 

The timetable for Wisdom and Taillon’s return to the Cubs active roster remains unclear. Taillon will likely have at least one more rehab start with Iowa before returning to a depleted Cubs rotation in need of depth. Wisdom is eligible to return on April 15, and if his next two games on rehab assignment continue to bode well, he could return to the Cubs lineup as early as Monday. 

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