Say this for the 2021 Yankees: They didn’t lack for storylines. From Corey Kluber’s no-hitter to various COVID scares, there were highs and lows that won’t soon be forgotten. Yet one of the best stories of the year was Jameson Taillon’s return to form. After nearly two years away from a big league mound, the former Pirates right-hander, who turned 30 on Nov. 18, debuted with the Yankees this past April and became a key cog in the rotation. Like the team itself, Taillon’s season wasn’t all smooth sailing, but any rough patches were met with extraordinary success. In mid-September, Taillon spoke with Yankees Magazine executive editor Nathan Maciborski about his path to pinstripes and how good it feels to be back doing what he loves.

Yankees Magazine: It’s obviously been a crazy, roller-coaster type season. What has the vibe been like in the clubhouse? Does it fluctuate depending on how things are going, or do guys stay pretty even-keeled in there?

Jameson Taillon: I’d say one of the biggest differences coming over to the Yankees has just been the overall professionalism of the entire roster. Not to say that anyone was unprofessional where I came from, but here, every player knows how to lock in and prepare for a game. They know what work they need to do in the weight room. It’s less about development here, and it’s more about what you can do that day to go out and win a game. We all know we’ve had plenty of heartbreaking, tough losses this year. But the guys just really seem to know how to turn the page and get ready for that next day’s game, because harping on the last game and letting that one eat you alive really does you no good.

YM: I’m sure there’s no shortage of differences between pitching in Pittsburgh and pitching in New York, especially in terms of expectations. The Yankees entered September 20 games above .500, and yet the media and even some fans were talking about this team like the sky was falling and nothing was going right. What has that adjustment been like for you? Can that added pressure be a good thing?

JT: I think I’m almost lucky in the sense that I was a first-round pick a while back, and I feel like I’ve had eyes on me for a good deal of my baseball life. I think that’s helped me with media relations and stuff and just understanding that everyone has a job to do. Pittsburgh, it’s obviously not a market like New York -- it’s really not even close -- but it’s still the big leagues, and it’s still very professional media and stuff, so I think playing there really prepared me for New York. It’s definitely different here, but I’ve embraced it. The team expects to win; that goes for the players, staff, the coaches, the front office and then, of course, the media and the fans, too. So, the expectations are good. You should want to win at this level.

YM: How has the adjustment been for you off the field? For some folks, moving to New York City can be a bit daunting.

JT: I’ve actually loved it. Me and my girlfriend, we live in Houston in the offseason, so we enjoy the hustle and bustle of the big city. Finding a place to live and all that was definitely a little stressful, but I’ve actually started taking the subway to and from the games. I’m comfortable getting around the city. We found our little pocket in our neighborhood -- our grocery stores and our restaurants and coffee shops and our parks and subway stations and all that. So I feel like we’re in a really good rhythm now. And I was actually kind of surprised by just how much I’ve loved New York because I was one of those people that used to always say, "It’s a great city to visit but I don’t know about living in it." Now, I just absolutely love it. The other day I had a full-blown mariachi band play for me on a Sunday morning while I was on my way to the field, and I really enjoyed it. No shortage of characters on the subway, that’s for sure.

YM: After your first start back in April, I asked you if there was anything you experienced that night that you had forgotten about, because it had been so long, and you gave kind of a funny answer about getting really ticked off at yourself. Now that you’ve got a full season under your belt, I’ll ask you the same thing: Is there anything about just being part of a rotation and taking the ball every fifth day that was kind of missing from your life and that you had forgotten about until now?

JT: Yeah, I missed a lot about it. There are certain little things that you don’t even realize you missed until you get to experience them again. I missed sitting on the bench with the other starters and watching the game. I missed the game-day routine for a starter. I missed that feeling of the build-up, those nerves, walking from the bullpen to the dugout before games, stuff like that. So I’ve definitely been extremely grateful to stay healthy for most of the year and to get to experience these things again, because there was a point in time where I wasn’t 100 percent confident I’d ever get to experience that stuff again, let alone with the New York Yankees.

YM: About your game-day routine, what is it like? Do you have any specific rituals or superstitions that you stick to on the days you pitch?

JT: There’s nothing too crazy. I do a lot of the preparation and the work in between starts to get ready to compete on that fifth day, and so, really, when it’s start day, you kind of quiet the brain, quiet the mind; I just try to keep my mind off of it. In the morning, I eat a good breakfast, coffee, get to the field. I wouldn’t say it’s superstition, but I just kind of go through the same routine every time, listen to similar music. I do the same warm-up routine; I start everything at the same time.

YM: What kind of music do you listen to on those days you pitch?

JT: I’ve got a playlist I made a couple of years ago that’s called Start Day Vibes or something like that. And it’s just a mix of pump-up music and good-vibes music. I actually find that if I listen to too much hard metal or intense rap, I get too amped up, which I don’t think is really the way to go. So I like somewhere in the middle. I like being locked in, focused, but also kind of just vibin’ and chill.

YM: I like the Led Zeppelin entrance song when you come in from the bullpen.

JT: I’ve had that one ever since I debuted in Pittsburgh.

YM: Going back to those days in Pittsburgh, you and Gerrit Cole obviously have a lot of history together. You were drafted second overall by the Pirates in 2010; they took him first overall the following year. What was it like coming up through the Minors? Did you guys have high hopes for what you would accomplish once you got to the Majors, and how has it been being reunited in New York?

JT: Yeah, it’s an interesting thing to think about because when me and Gerrit were drafted, the dream -- not just for us, but for the entire organization -- was that we would lead a staff in the big meaningful playoff games and stuff like that. It never really worked out where we timed up perfectly: He went up there in 2013, ’14, ’15 and got to be a part of those winning teams. Then I came up in 2016. We played together half the year in ’16, a full year in ’17, and then he was traded after that. So it’s fun to be reunited with him; a lot has changed. He’s married, he has a kid, he’s been to the World Series. So, it’s just cool to reunite with where we’re at in our careers now. I feel like we’re both ready for this stage of our careers in our lives.

YM: You talked about adjusting to New York. How about adjusting to the American League? How are you feeling about the designated hitter these days?

JT: I’ll tell you what, getting to face a pitcher versus getting to face some of the DHs in our league -- like a Nelson Cruz or J.D. Martinez -- that’s a huge swing. You’re talking about probably a 4.0 or 5.0 WAR player vs. a minus-WAR hitter as a pitcher. So it makes turning the lineup over a lot more difficult. You’re facing some guys who are literally only there to hit. That’s definitely made it more challenging. I don’t really miss hitting. We’re in one of the toughest divisions, if not the toughest, in all of baseball. Getting to know these hitters and these lineups and these different styles of play from the different teams has all been a bit of an adjustment, but it’s all been exciting to learn.

YM: For the story we wrote about you back in May, I asked Francisco Cervelli what he would tell Yankees fans about Jameson Taillon, and he said, “You have an amazing pitcher, but you have a better human being.” What are some of the things you’ve done to make him say that?

JT: In Pittsburgh, I got really involved off the field. I’ve just been trying to keep up with New York City in my first year, so -- me and my girlfriend were actually just talking about this the other day -- we both feel like we haven’t had the opportunity to really spread our wings in the community just yet, which is something we look forward to doing. But a baseball season, it’s 162 games plus two months of Spring Training, so I spent a lot of time around a guy like Cervy on long flights, having a glass of wine and talking about the game, or sometimes just talking about our family and what we’re going through. Through the course of a year, all you have is each other. It’s a special bond you create with these guys, especially the bond between a pitcher and catcher when you’ve been through some stuff together; you’re in a hostile environment on the road, it’s a big situation, and the fans are getting really rowdy. It’s just you and your catcher at that moment. That’s a special kind of bond. I saw what he said, and that means a lot. Obviously you want to be known for your performance, but I think showing up and being a consistent pro and a good teammate is just as important.

YM: I wanted to ask you a little bit about your baseball upbringing. Your parents are both Canadian. Were they the ones who got you started?

JT: Baseball definitely wasn’t the first game that they ever knew. My dad grew up on hockey and lacrosse. I grew up in The Woodlands, Texas, outside of Houston, which was obviously a big baseball hotbed, and they signed me up for baseball. But then from there, I kind of got myself in love with baseball. My mom tells funny stories about how I was always throwing something. I’d watch a baseball game on TV, and I’d be throwing something against the wall. Or going on a family walk, I’d pick up a rock and try to hit a tree with it. So not just baseball, but specifically throwing things has always been a real passion of mine. My dad used to push me a little bit, “Hey, let’s go practice, let’s go outside and throw, let’s take ground balls.” Then I hit a certain point where I was the one asking him to go out there and work with me, and he says, “That’s when I knew you were going to be really good.” At a young age I took that ownership of wanting to practice and get better, so falling in love with baseball wasn’t too hard for me.

YM: I’m sure you probably spent more time playing sports than watching them, but did you have a favorite team or a player that you latched onto as a kid?

JT: I was a huge, huge Astros fan. I went to maybe five to 10 games a year, and I grew up with the Killer B’s era, so Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman, Billy Wagner. Clemens and Pettitte were there for a little while, Roy Oswalt. I grew up in a golden age of Astros baseball, and I still follow Houston sports pretty closely.

YM: At what point did you know that this is what you wanted to do with your life? Were you thinking big leagues from an early age?

JT: I’d say it was a very gradual progression. When I was in middle school, I just wanted to make my high school team. And then I made varsity as a freshman, which for my high school is pretty hard to do. And then I was like, I just want to get into a really good academic school by using baseball. That was my goal, to play in college and get a great degree. I started throwing 90 my sophomore year, and then I started having scouts come out my junior year when I was throwing in the low- to mid-90s. And it was like, "Hey, if I could get drafted and get a $1 million signing bonus, maybe that would steer me away from college." Then I got drafted in the first round. So I just kept setting a goal in my sight, and then I’d achieve it and set the next one.

YM: All these years later, you obviously now have this ocean of knowledge and experience when it comes to pitching. Do you think pitching is more of an art or a science?

JT: It’s definitely more of an art form. You know, the science is there to back up what you’re thinking or what you’re seeing, or to prove a point. I think they can kind of marry each other, and they’re both extremely important. But you can’t be a robot out there; you have to be able to adjust on the fly. Sometimes you look at a scouting report the whole week, you’re super prepared for a lineup, and you get out there and it’s like, they know what you know. So let’s say my game plan is to go attack the Blue Jays up in the zone, and every fastball I throw up, they’re either hacking at, crushing it, or they’re taking it, whatever. That shows me that they know my strengths, and they know what I’m trying to do. Now you have to be able to adjust on the fly and play the game within the game. So, I would definitely say it’s a bit more of an art form.

YM: That game within the game is part of what makes baseball so exciting, isn’t it?

JT: I mean, I could talk about it all day. I can’t watch another team’s game without really trying to think along with the pitcher and catcher. The art of pitching and just baseball in general, there’s so much going on between every pitch. Even if a pitch ends up as a ball, that serves a purpose. There’s a reason for it. There’s a whole thought process behind why that pitch was thrown in that exact location. That’s why I love pitching. That’s why I love baseball.

YM: There’s certainly a mental toughness that is required to do your job, and I’ve heard plenty of players say that confidence is key in baseball. How big a factor has confidence been for you this season in particular?

JT: This is something we’ve talked about a good amount in the dugout during games. There’s something that can’t be measured about confidence that -- I’m fully convinced of this -- I think I can throw the exact same pitch to the exact same hitter, the exact same velocity, spin, location, all of that, but if I throw one with some timidness or the hope that it doesn’t get hit, versus the other one where I’m ripping it with aggression and a lot of finish on it and I believe that it’s going to lead to a swing-and-miss or an out, I think those two pitches play completely differently. The hitter can feel your body language; they can feel your intent, even on the same exact pitch in the same spot. I truly believe that; that hitters can really feel your intent, your confidence behind what you’re doing, and your tempo and your pace and all that. It’s easier said than done. You can’t just go out there and tell yourself to be confident. You obviously have to have experiences that make you confident and that belief in yourself in the work you’re doing has put you in a position to succeed. But confidence is extremely important. When you’re supposed to throw a 1-0 fastball down and away to a guy like J.D. Martinez, and you know if you miss, he’s probably going to punish you for your mistake, you better be confident that you’re going to get that pitch to that spot. You can’t have bad thoughts.

YM: You’ve said your June 12 start in Philadelphia was a low point in your season and how you basically told yourself afterward, I’ve come too far just to be a mediocre pitcher. What did you do from that point forward to turn things around?

JT: It was a lot of adjustments. It started with the thought that, in the beginning of the year, I wanted to get my feet wet again, make sure my routine was working, make sure I was putting myself in a position to keep my elbow healthy. And then I got to June, and I’d come out of games thinking, Why was that such a grind? Why was that such a battle? So, I wanted to take that next level of ownership and say, All right, the process is taken care of — I know I’m putting in good work, I know my work is right, now it’s time to go out there and get results. I sat down with the pitching coach, with some analytics guys, with the catchers, a few of the pitchers, and I just wanted to go over what they saw, what they thought. I wanted to look at the numbers behind it. I wanted to figure out what adjustments I could make that were going to instantly carry over to my results. Maybe it was throwing more fastballs down and away instead of just up. Maybe it was throwing my curveball harder, like I used to. Maybe it was throwing my changeup more. Maybe it was throwing my two-seam more. Maybe it was not going through the stretch every time and adding my wind-up back. I made a lot of adjustments there in the middle of June, and I feel like that helped turn my season around. It’s still not where I want to be, but it definitely helped a lot and allowed me to go out there for a nice stretch and help our team win a bunch of games.

YM: It sure did. You were named American League Pitcher of the Month for July, and your first eight starts out of the All-Star break all resulted in Yankees wins. How gratifying was it to be able to contribute so substantially to the team’s success during that run?

JT: Being a new guy, you definitely want to contribute, especially to a team like this. I felt like during that stretch, I got a lot more comfortable in the locker room. I was welcomed with open arms from day one, but I felt like there was something I had to do to put myself over that hump of feeling like the new guy. I felt like I really belonged once that stretch got going. We had some guys out for COVID, we had some guys out for injury, and for me to be a stabilizing force, that was rewarding. I know earlier in the year I wasn’t carrying my weight to that extent, so it felt good to have that role reversal and be able to carry my weight.

YM: As your first season here in New York nears its end and you look back on the last six months or so, what are you most proud of?

JT: My immediate gut answer is just to say that I’ve stayed healthy for the most part. Having two Tommy John surgeries, there’s not many guys that have done that and come back on the other side. And to be able to come back and pitch for the Yankees in a loaded AL East and win some games and stay healthy … I didn’t take any painkillers or any anti-inflammatories. It was obviously with the help of the training staff and the strength staff, but my routine worked, and that’s pretty gratifying.

YM: Whether the Yankees are playing in the Bronx or on the road, this team’s fans certainly make their presence felt. What has been your impression of Yankees fans so far, and have you allowed yourself to envision what it might be like to start a postseason game at Yankee Stadium?

JT: Obviously, at home, you’d expect the support at Yankee Stadium, and playing there is super special. But being on the road has been eye-opening to me because in Pittsburgh, we had very loyal fans, but they didn’t travel like Yankees fans. We were playing in Anaheim a couple weeks ago, and it was literally like a home game for us. It was so loud there. Down in Miami, holy cow, there are so many Yankees fans. In Baltimore last night, it felt like they were with us every pitch, especially late in that game. Playing for Pittsburgh, I can remember times where Mets fans or Cubs fans would kind of come take over our home field. And that’s a [lousy] feeling, when you give up a home run at home and the other team’s fans are starting chants and stuff. So, it’s nice to be on the other side of that now. That kind of stuff makes a difference. When they’re with you on every pitch -- especially on the road where it can be a hostile environment -- it’s pretty cool. And then, I’ve heard from a lot of people that Yankee Stadium in October is great. Everyone’s been like, Dude, if we get to a big playoff situation, just wait -- that’s a whole different animal. So I’m hoping to experience that.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Nathan Maciborski is the executive editor of Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the October 2021 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.