Without question, Jameson Taillon is the ace of the Pirates pitching staff. So is Joe Musgrove. And Trevor Williams. And Chris Archer. And Ivan Nova.
And in their mind's eye, each of them is. And that's how Clint Hurdle views his starting rotation.
On any given day, each of the aforementioned is capable of taking the ball and pitching like a No. 1, according to the manager. More times than not lately, that's how it's played out. Even as the Pirates' playoff hopes fade as the season draws closer to its end, the rotation has been strong with the potential to be even better in the years to come.
As for who is or who will be the "ace" or who is the "No. 2" or "3," etc., that's all semantics. It's not something that consumes any of them.
"Those are all just titles and stuff," Taillon said to DKPittsburghSports.com on Saturday. "We all just focus on pitching and doing our jobs. For me, I'm not in Clint's shoes, but I'd feel pretty confident in giving the ball to any one of us on any day. There's no ego here. We're all just trying to be the best we can be."
At this point, Hurdle says he feels no need to slot his pitchers. At some time in their careers, whether it was high school, college or the minors, each has been the ace, he says. That's how they've reached the highest level.
"You go from being a big fish in a smaller pond to being a smaller fish in a big pond and you have to figure out how to swim and how to figure out how to swim strong and how to swim right," Hurdle was saying. "But I love the direction our starting rotation has taken. They have the mentality that they can be the ace that day. That's the way we frame it up. They can be the ace that day."
Taillon provides pedigree. Musgrove has swagger. Williams has heart. Archer has savvy. Nova has experience.
"I feel like all of our starters that are young guys, including myself, we all have pretty good arms with some really good secondary stuff," Musgrove says.
All have had their share of ups and downs, to be sure, but add it all up and you can see why the Pirates have had the second-best ERA in the majors since July 8.
Since the All-Star break, Taillon is 6-2 with a 2.48 ERA and 49 strikeouts to 10 walks. In his third season, the 26-year-old is pitching with the kind of stuff that made him the second overall pick in 2010.
Musgrove, converted to a starter after working out of the bullpen last season while winning a World Series in Houston, is just 3-4 but has 38 strikeouts to just five walks over that span.
Williams, 26, might be the hottest pitcher in baseball -- 91-mph fastball and all -- with a minuscule 0.72 ERA in his eight starts since the break.
After a rough start to his Pirates career, Archer has put together two solid starts, going six innings in each while while allowing just four runs on seven hits.
After missing a start in the rotation, Nova was dominant in Saturday's win over Miami, allowing just three hits and no runs over six innings.
Williams believes that the July 31 trade that brought Archer from Tampa Bay has forced each to raise his game. It's a friendly competition but it's a competition.
"We're all competitive, we always want to outdo one another," Williams was saying. "It's fun to watch. Guys have been stepping up all year. When we got Arch into our rotation it amplified everything. He's got shutout, lights-out stuff. It's fun to watch that every five days and try and emulate."
After Sunday afternoon's game against the Marlins at PNC Park was washed out, the Pirates will begin a six-game road trip through St. Louis and Milwaukee. They take with them a five-game winning streak and Williams, presumably, will try to build off what he's done his last eight starts and off of Nova's masterful performance.
"The way the rotation is set up now, it's kind of perfect," Musgrove was saying. "Everyone's feeding off one another. Everyone's performing well. The guy who you're following and the guy who's following you, you're setting an example for him. The guy before you is kind of leading the way for you.
"I don't think we look at it as having a big ego or anything to be the ace or want to be the guy. We're trying to be known as an ace of a staff, not necessarily an ace pitcher."
Whether each is or will develop into a legit No. 1 remains to be seen.
Historically, starting pitching has never been the Pirates' strong suit. There is no Hall of Fame pitcher readily identified with the team or its history the way a Bob Gibson is to the Cardinals or Sandy Koufax is to the Dodgers. The last Pittsburgh starter to win 20 games in a season was John Smiley 27 years ago. Gerrit Cole came close in 2015, recording 19 wins, but the former All-Star is yet another reminder of the economic realities under current ownership. The Pirates are capable of identifying and even developing an elite pitcher, but retaining one might be a different matter.
Thus, a staff of quality pitchers capable of posting double-digit wins is an intriguing option. None might be a true "ace" but who's to say they can't get better?
Taillon, Musgrove and Williams are still very early in their respective careers. Archer figures to be better than what he's shown as he gets a bead on NL hitters. Nova is the senior member of the staff at 32 and will be in the final year of his contract.
And that's to say nothing of Nick Kingham, the injured Chad Kuhl and even top prospect Mitch Keller. Each is -- or, in Keller's case, could be -- MLB-ready.
"I know we've got that young dude in AAA (Keller), I know we've got Kuhl, Kingham," Archer was saying. "I'm sure if they told Kingham, 'You have 30 starts without going up and down,' he'd be successful. Just look at the stuff and you can tell."
The starting pitchers are a tight-knit group and have grown tighter over the course of the season. They can be seen regularly commiserating at their locker stalls in one corner of the home clubhouse at PNC Park. They watch each other's bullpen sessions and watch each game together from the dugout steps. Musgrove says the younger guys pick the brains of Nova and Archer trying to sponge as much as they can.
"We've had super-good, super-productive conversations about pitching every single day," Taillon said. "Throughout the course of the year, I think we're all helping each other grow and learn."
When Archer, who spent the first six years of his career in the American League, got the first extra-base hit of his career on Friday night, he broke out the celebratory left turn and no one looked happier than his fellow pitchers:
Hey @ChrisArcher22, be honest, you've been practicing that celebration.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/wraBjOn0Nv
— Pirates (@Pirates) September 8, 2018
With 20 games left in yet another season that will go without Pittsburgh's first World Series championship since 1979, the starters say there is still work to be done in 2018. If there is one reason to be excited for 2019, it's the starting rotation and its potential.
"We talk about it all the time, especially this last month here, it's a good chance for us to really learn a lot and grow a lot," Musgrove said. "Take the pressures off feeling like we have to keep the team in the race to trying to go out and put together quality starts and navigate our way through a lineup and learn from the experiences that we're gaining this last month and carry them over to next year."
Said Taillon: "This year for all us was a huge learning year, a huge building year. I feel like going into next year, management has to feel pretty good about the strides the young pitching took. They have to feel good handing any of us the ball."
