Tillman

[Prayin4Reign]

Pretty disappointed that he couldn't stop the Mariners from hitting the ball to Betimit. Going forward he needs to realize that is one of the keys to getting ML hitters out.

What? Making sure no one hits a ball to Wilson? I am very happy for Tillman and the team.

Psssst....sarcasm.

[cb3fsu]

His velocity being up in the mid 90's is the most encouraging thing about this IMO. I thought we had been hearing that he had been down to 89-92 which gave me little hope for him to turn things around and be successful.

[Lucky Jim]

As a partial season ticket plan holder for the Tides' date=' I can honestly say I did not see that performance coming. He was in the low 90's for most all of his starts I have seen in person, occasionaly touching 94-95 but only a couple times a game.

[/quote']

On the stadium gun? I still think we're dealing w/ gun variation w/ Tillman more than an actual change in stuff. It's possible the gun in Seattle was running a little hot and the gun in Norfolk runs a little cold. I noted some pretty significant differences in the games I watched - but I'll note that in both my scouting reports Tillman's velo increased throughout the game and he was sitting 93-94 and touching 95 (according to the announcers) in the late innings.

I think that's his real, easy velocity, and it's plenty. That said, no matter what Tillman's velo at Norfolk, the reaction by the hitters was the same: they were behind his FB. Whatever he's doing, there's some deception that's allowing the ball to get to hitters quickly and it can only help.

[McNulty]

Fangraphs has his average FB yesterday at 95.0. Its just one start, but if that is his baseline velo average going forward, that has him tied for 3rd in the bigs among starters.

Even if he drops by 1 MPH that would only drop him to 5th.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=y&type=4&season=2012

[weams]

Fangraphs has his average FB yesterday at 95.0. Its just one start, but if that is his baseline velo average going forward, that has him tied for 3rd in the bigs among starters.

Even if he drops by 1 MPH that would only drop him to 5th.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=y&type=4&season=2012

No wonder Palmer compared him to Verlander.

[bobmc]

No wonder Palmer compared him to Verlander.

Yep! When he exited I stood and cheered in my living room! What a masterful performance!

[ccbird]

Again, he's had good starts before but yesterday was definitely a different Tillman. Yes, it was a bad hitting M's team but when you saw the swings they were taking it told me they were overmatched. That's why I'm so encouraged. If there is one thing that worries me going forward it's control. I think that could be the thing that gets him in trouble.

[Il BuonO]

On the stadium gun? I still think we're dealing w/ gun variation w/ Tillman more than an actual change in stuff. It's possible the gun in Seattle was running a little hot and the gun in Norfolk runs a little cold. I noted some pretty significant differences in the games I watched - but I'll note that in both my scouting reports Tillman's velo increased throughout the game and he was sitting 93-94 and touching 95 (according to the announcers) in the late innings.

I think that's his real, easy velocity, and it's plenty. That said, no matter what Tillman's velo at Norfolk, the reaction by the hitters was the same: they were behind his FB. Whatever he's doing, there's some deception that's allowing the ball to get to hitters quickly and it can only help.

This is right, no matter what the gun says the hitters were behind. That's what I saw, too. I also saw him walk off the mound confident and look in complete control of his surroundings. Let me ask you, do you get the same feeling from either Matusz, Arrieta or Hunter in combination with a performance like this?

[Tony-OH]

He appeared to touch a few ticks higher today, but he was a pretty solid 92-94 and touching 95 at Norfolk. He spent a lot more time in the mid-90s before the last two years.

Actually, I think that's a misnomer. Tillman was never a consistent mid-90s guy, even when he came over. He would sit 92-93 and touch 94-95, but he never sat like he did yesterday. Yesterday was the Chris Tillman the Orioles hoped he would become. I haven't heard why the velocity suddenly spiked, but he's never had the kind of velocity we saw yesterday over an entire start. When Tillman first came up in 2009 he averaged 92 MPH on his fastball which then fell to 90.2 in 2010 and bottomed out at 89.3 last year. When I saw his velocity spike during his relief outing this spring, I thought maybe he was a guy like Jim Johnson who just needed to be in short stints for his best velocity. However, yesterday was something else for Tillman. Maybe the gun was hot there but I've never seen Tillman average 95 MPH on his fastball during a start. Never. On top of it all, his fastball which used to be fairly straight had nice arm-side run yesterday.

This is a different guy. I'd be less enthused if Tillman was throwing 90-92 and just had a nice start. What we saw yesterday was a guy who through in the mid-90s with life, a hammer curveball that was almost 20 MPH off his fastball and a changeup that he threw 12 MPH off his FB. Let's just say that's impressive all around.

If this is the new Tillman, I really want to hear the back story on how he remade himself after looking like toast last year.

[Il BuonO]

No wonder Palmer compared him to Verlander.

Palmer doesn't throw out accolades that easily either.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Actually, I think that's a misnomer. Tillman was never a consistent mid-90s guy, even when he came over. He would sit 92-93 and touch 94-95, but he never sat like he did yesterday. Yesterday was the Chris Tillman the Orioles hoped he would become. I haven't heard why the velocity suddenly spiked, but he's never had the kind of velocity was saw yesterday over an entire start. When Tillman first came up in 2009 he averaged 92 MPH on his fastball which then fell to 90.2 in 2010 and bottomed out at 89.3 last year. When I saw his velocity spike during his relief outing this spring, I thought maybe he was a guy like Jim Johnson who just needed to be in short stints for his best velocity. However, yesterday was something else for Tillman. Maybe the gun was hot there but I've never seen Tillman average 95 MPH on his fastball during a start. Never. On top of it all, his fastball which used to be fairly straight had nice arm-side run yesterday.

This is a different guy. I'd be less enthused if Tillman was throwing 90-92 and just had a nice start. What we saw yesterday was a guy who through in the mid-90s with life, a hammer curveball that was almost 20 MPH off his fastball and a changeup that he threw 12 MPH off his FB. Let's just say that's impressive all around.

If this is the new Tillman, I really want to hear the back story on how he remade himself after looking like toast last year.

The curveball definitely looked different from what I've seen in the past too. Not as loopy as the 12-6 when he came up, but more arc and vertical drop than I saw last year (or even in ST) with a tighter version. It really seemed like his mechanics were effortless out there. really a different pithcer.

Pretty amazing.

[Lucky Jim]

Actually, I think that's a misnomer. Tillman was never a consistent mid-90s guy, even when he came over. He would sit 92-93 and touch 94-95, but he never sat like he did yesterday. Yesterday was the Chris Tillman the Orioles hoped he would become. I haven't heard why the velocity suddenly spiked, but he's never had the kind of velocity was saw yesterday over an entire start. When Tillman first came up in 2009 he averaged 92 MPH on his fastball which then fell to 90.2 in 2010 and bottomed out at 89.3 last year. When I saw his velocity spike during his relief outing this spring, I thought maybe he was a guy like Jim Johnson who just needed to be in short stints for his best velocity. However, yesterday was something else for Tillman. Maybe the gun was hot there but I've never seen Tillman average 95 MPH on his fastball during a start. Never. On top of it all, his fastball which used to be fairly straight had nice arm-side run yesterday.

This is a different guy. I'd be less enthused if Tillman was throwing 90-92 and just had a nice start. What we saw yesterday was a guy who through in the mid-90s with life, a hammer curveball that was almost 20 MPH off his fastball and a changeup that he threw 12 MPH off his FB. Let's just say that's impressive all around.

If this is the new Tillman, I really want to hear the back story on how he remade himself after looking like toast last year.

Sorry - I didn't mean to imply that Tillman sat in the mid-90s. He was never a FB-first, power guy in that sense. I was just referring to the fact that he'd dropped off about 3MPH over the last year-and-a-half. We were happy when he touched 92MPH last year. But prior to then, touching 94-95 was not nearly as big a deal.

I still see him as a guy who will sit 92-94, and touch higher. That's largely what I saw in his MiLB starts this year. I think expecting a 95MPH base probably courts (i) disappointment and (ii) injury. But if he can be 92-94 w/ a bit in the tank, it'll fly with the other stuff he was working with yesterday.

We should also note that Chris is 6'6, and suddenly his FB is really getting in, up, and by people. My guess is that the wind up has been simplified, the stride has been increased a bit, and he's getting full extension. Combine this with the new level of fitness (he looks big now, in a way he didn't before) and we've got a partial answer.

[Frobby]

Here is how Tillman did after those great starts I listed:

9/16/09 -- 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K's

9/21/09 -- 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K's

7/10/10 -- 7.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K's

7/19/10 -- 2.2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 4 BB, 2 K's

9/12/10 -- 6.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 BB, 4 K's

9/19/10 -- 3.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 1 K

10/1/10 -- 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K's

(no next start -- 2010 was over)

4/2/11 --- 6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K's

4/7/11 --- 4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K's

5/11/11 -- 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K's

5/16/11 -- 5.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K's

8/6/11 --- 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K's

8/11/11 -- 2.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K's

Note that Tillman's start on 7/10/10 was his last start before the all-star break, then he came back 9 days later and was a completely different pitcher. That's probably one reason the O's are optioning him back to Bowie now so he can pitch on Monday and not get out of rhythm.

[Tony-OH]

Here's a nice graphic that shows how much his pitches were moving yesterday. His fastball was running between 1-8 inches and he was getting some sink. He still throws some rather straight fastballs at times, but good location can overcome that, especially when you are getting some nice run at times. The curve was more of a 12-6 that actually backed up a few times according to the chart. In the past it wouldn't sometimes get slurvvy. He also ditched the slider that he's used in the past and limited the cutter.

At the end of the day though, his fastball was a much more effective pitch and his ability to work in on righties and away from lefties was a key.

For comparison sake, This was Verlander's last outing:

[Goober Noodles]

I gave Tillman a real standing ovation. I guess that's too much for some of you so called fans.