AL DIVISION SERIES: GUARDIANS VS YANKEES

October 14, 2022

Jameson Taillon

Yankee Stadium

New York Yankees

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. How do you prepare for coming out of the bullpen? How different is it for you?

JAMESON TAILLON: It's definitely a little different. I had some time to prepare like mentally. I had time to go ask Zach Britton questions, Mike King questions. I'm good friends with Daniel Hudson who pitched out of the bullpen, has two Tommy Johns. So I asked him some questions.

But, yeah, I just kept it moving down there in Game 1. Stayed as loose as possible and tried to stay ready. They do a pretty good job of explaining what your role is and what hitters they want you to face. You just follow the game, see where your spot might come up, and be ready.

Q. How quickly do you feel like you could get ready down there?

JAMESON TAILLON: That was probably a good thing that I got to go and warm up in Game 1 just to figure that out because I really had no real idea. I would say it was actually a lot quicker than I thought. A couple hitters in advance and I'd say I was actually hot and ready.

Q. Was there one piece of advice that any of those guys gave you that stuck with you?

JAMESON TAILLON: Yeah, actually most of them said less is more, which sounds super simple. But as a starter, I'm used to being very rigid with my schedule: An hour before the game, I'm doing this, I'm throwing these Plyo balls, I'm throwing these medicine balls, I'm doing these warmup drills. And the guys in the bullpen are like you just really need to put all your energy into executing pitches, and the adrenaline will kind of do the rest, which is something I'm not super familiar with.

But just warming up in Game 1 again, I got to kind of feel that, and it is crazy what the body can do when you're told you have two or three hitters until you're in. And just you get going and it kind of took over and I was ready.

Q. Obviously the focus for you guys is on the current opponent, but in the clubhouse is there any attention you're playing to the other series with Seattle and Houston, planning ahead?

JAMESON TAILLON: Yeah, I don't know if guys are necessarily sitting around watching and talking about it, but I think everyone is watching it. Yesterday, rained out, I didn't have anything going on and I watched the game. Just as a fan of baseball, I was really watching. Guys aren't really talking about it, but everyone is keeping up with what's going on for sure.

Q. What's your background with Huddy? I know him real well from the Diamondbacks organization.

JAMESON TAILLON: He was in Pittsburgh in 2017, he became a golfing buddy there for a bit. And then once I got my second Tommy Johnny, I kind of leaned on him and a few other guys who had gone through. There's not a huge sample size of guys who have two Tommy Johns who came back and pitched in the big leagues. So he was a guy I leaned on.

I got to see him close out Game 7 of the World Series in Houston. I was there for that. So that was a big moment in my life. I was still in a sling from my surgery, watching a fellow two-time TJ guy closing out the World Series and dog-piling stuff that. So that was a big moment for me to give myself hope and stuff. We keep up, talk about fantasy fastball, golf, bourbon, baseball. Really good guy.

Q. Off the top of my head Holmes hit the first guy and got three in a row. If one more guy had gotten on were you in the game?

JAMESON TAILLON: Yeah, I was coming in and he got 2-0 on the last hitter. And mentally I was like, I have a good shot coming in here at the top of the order. So I don't know, I was definitely ready to come in, but I'm also glad he just got the out.

Q. When you start a game, there's not kind of game-ending implications. In that situation, there will be, one way or the other, game-ending implications. Have you allowed yourself to think of that or do you ultimately have to not think of that?

JAMESON TAILLON: Probably a little bit of both. I think you can't let that dominate your thoughts, but at the same time, if you're throwing a slider to a guy who might hit hanging sliders really well, like, you better make sure that misses in the dirt versus over in the plate. Which as a starter, you kind of have, like, the luxury of easing yourself into a game. Yeah, if you give up a solo homer early, it's not the end of the world usually.

But in that situation, yeah, I think definitely if you're ahead in the count, like be really careful with where the misses go and stuff. That's something that, sitting in the dugout all year and watching our high-leverage relievers, that's something I've picked up on. Just be careful with your misses, how close you're going to a guy's hot zone and stuff like that.

Q. How different did it feel watching the game down there with those guys, as opposed to where you your entire career have watched the game?

JAMESON TAILLON: It's a lot different. You can only see half the field. You don't have access. We have like the high home camera, but you don't have access to watching every single pitch. It looked like Gerrit was throwing absolute missiles from out there. But I had really no -- I couldn't see a radar gun. You didn't have, like, K-Zone you could go look at on the iPad. It's definitely different. You feel a little bit more of the crowd from out there, too. Every time I go out and warm up, you could feel the energy a little more out there. Pros and cons to watching the game from both side.