PITTSBURGH -- After an injury-filled season that depleted the Pirates’ pitching staff and often wreaked havoc on their lineup card, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk had nothing but good news to share on Monday.

Right fielder Gregory Polanco, coming off something close to a lost season due to lingering injuries related to his September 2018 shoulder surgery, is expected to be ready for Spring Training with no restrictions, Tomczyk said during a conference call with reporters.

Polanco visited the Bucs’ Spring Training facility in Bradenton, Fla., last week. He is feeling good and throwing from 120 feet, and Tomczyk said the right fielder’s throwing motion is “much more in tune” than it was during a season in which he dealt with recurrent left shoulder inflammation. The issue was not necessarily strength -- Polanco returned to the field earlier than expected, hit well for stretches and threw with some percentage of his usual velocity -- but rather the volume of work he took on less than a year after such a major operation.

Polanco hit just .242/.301/.425 with six homers in 42 games for the Pirates last season. Penciling him into right field next year, Pittsburgh is hoping Polanco can return to the form that allowed him to hit .254/.340/.499 with 23 homers and 81 RBIs in 130 games in 2018.

Polanco received a series of platelet-rich plasma injections after the season but required no further procedures on his shoulder, Tomczyk said. The 28-year-old will be monitored throughout the year, and the Bucs are aware they may have to be careful with his workload when he returns to the field.

“There may be additional times throughout his career that we hit the pause button and have to work on the range of motion again,” Tomczyk said. “That may include, per doctors’ guidance and per doctors’ recommendations, additional biological injections.”

Taillon on track for ’21

Right-hander Jameson Taillon, who underwent his second Tommy John surgery in August, recently posted on Instagram that he has been “attacking my rehab program” and that he feels “so encouraged for this year ahead.” Taillon reported that he has begun the build-up to his throwing program, but he is still not expected to pitch in the Majors in 2020.

Tomczyk noted that pitchers typically return from their first ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery in 14-16 months, while the second revision requires a 16- to 18-month rehab program. With Taillon’s long-term health in mind, the Pirates don’t intend to rush him through that process next year.

“From a medical, rehab perspective, it doesn’t make much sense to push him to return [in 2020],” Tomczyk said. “When he comes back from this surgery, when he comes back and pitches, this isn’t just for one year. It’s for four or five more years. That’s where the rehab mindset is, to get Jameson there.

“We'll never rule anything out 100 percent, but if anything is close to 100 percent, Jameson will not be competing at the Major League level in the year 2020."

Taillon is eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason, and he is under team control through 2022.

More from the trainer’s room

• First baseman Josh Bell, center fielder Starling Marte and right-hander Chris Archer are all “healthy and going through what we characterize as a healthy offseason,” Tomczyk said. All three ended the season injured -- Bell with a left groin strain, Archer with right shoulder inflammation, Marte with a sprained left wrist.

• The Pirates are “cautiously optimistic” that Nick Burdi (neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome) will be ready for Spring Training. Burdi is reporting no complaints while ramping up the intensity and distance of his throws during his offseason program, Tomczyk said.

• Right-handers Chad Kuhl and Edgar Santana, who missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, are in the middle of standard offseason throwing programs. The club will monitor their workload, which is standard for pitchers returning from Tommy John surgery, but they are otherwise throwing without restrictions.

• Reliever Kyle Crick has had no setbacks in his recovery from extensor tendon repair surgery on his right index finger, the result of an injury he sustained during a clubhouse fight with former closer Felipe Vazquez. Crick has reported that he has full range of motion and strength in his finger, Tomczyk said, and should be under no medical restrictions at the start of Spring Training.

• Outfield prospect Jason Martin, who underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder on Oct. 18, might be slightly behind schedule at the start of Spring Training. However, Tomczyk said Martin’s rehab is progressing nicely, in part, because the injury was to his non-dominant shoulder.

“Jason’s focus, our focus, is not just to get him ready for Spring Training. Our focus is to get him ready for the season and future seasons in his career,” Tomczyk said. “At this juncture, he’s in a really good spot as far as range of motion and strength, and the rehab is going extremely well.”

• Super-utility man Erik González (left foot surgery in mid-November) and reliever Geoff Hartlieb (right foot surgery in early October) are still on track to resume full baseball activities in time for the start of Spring Training.

• Pitching prospect JT Brubaker, who was limited to six starts in the Minors last season due to a right forearm strain, is healthy enough to participate in a normal offseason throwing program. Tomczyk said the Pirates' training staff visited with Brubaker shortly after Thanksgiving, not long after Brubaker had returned from a hunting trip.

“The elbow has withstood hunting,” Tomczyk quipped, “so it should be able to withstand some throwing at this point.”