Pirates Trevor Williams is waiting out MLB's coronavirus shutdown in his native San Diego with his wife,Jackie, and their young family - a 4-year old, an infant and a newborn. So, even though Williams would rather be pitching, it hasn't been the worst thing in the world to have a full-time dad around to help out. It's also a nice coincidence that Williams and new pitching coach Oscar Marin are neighbors so they have been able to get some work in together. Williams says he's in reasonably good throwing shape and is anxious to start the season whenever and wherever but only when it's safe to do so. Trevor joined me Saturday afternoon on 93.7 The Fan.

Jameson Taillon has never lived up to the billing of second overall draft pick - after Bryce Harper and before Manny Machado- but it's really through no fault of his own. Here is what's he has endured - Tommy John surgery in 2014, sports hernia in 2015, testicular cancer in 2017, and after finally having an injury-free 2018 in which he was one of the best in MLB the second half of the season, he suffered a forearm injury in 2019. Further examination showed he needed a second Tommy John, so he won't pitch again until 2021.

But he is already well into rehab, which he has has changed quite a bit since his first TJ rehab 6 years ago. He also gives high marks to pitching coach Oscar Marin and his innovations.

With the second off day coming up Wednesday, the Pirates are at the unofficial halfway points of the Grapefruit League schedule and Thursday will mark 2 weeks until Opening Day in St. Petersburg. So I figured this was a good time get a progress report from Derek Shelton. Among the topics: how he's adjusting to being a manager, getting as much input from as many people as he can -his coaches, opposing managers, the analytics people, and his players (which is something a little different for them), how Oscar Marin's pitching program is being received, which players has impressed him the most (it's an important one) and I even learned a new term - "informatics."