Tillman

[Flash- bd]

For whatever reason, you don't see right handers throw change ups to right handed hitters.

It's not a practice specific to Tillman.

Right, but the practice is particularly exaggerated in Tillman's case (and, as I said, there seems to be a bit of a trend developing), and, the fact is, the CH is one of Tillman's best (if not Tillman's best) pitch. For example, this year Buchholz throws 16% CH to LHH, and 9% to RHH. Jake Peavy is throwing 14%/6%. Jeremy Hellickson (I know, a bit of an outlier, given that his change is most definitely his best pitch) is throwing his change more (31%) against RHH than vs. LHH (25%). Phil Hughes, on the other hand, is closer to Tillman's splits w/ 16%/3%.

Point is, it's not like throwing the change to RHH simply isn't done. There's room for debate here whether this is a smart strategy or not. So far, it's hard to argue with the results (not so much against Boston).

[OFFNY]

.

CHRIS TILLMAN O(vs. WHITE SOX, 8/28)

IP:O 7

H:o. 1

R:O. 0

BB:. 4

SO:. 5

Pitches: 109 (67 Strikes, 42 Balls)

2012 ERA: 3.26

[Frobby]

Rick Peterson worked wonders with this guy. I'm really excited about what he may become.

[Flash- bd]

Well, another night where we won't be hearing how dastardly the cavalry is.

Hammel-Chen-Tillman-Britton-Gonzalez; again, I like this rotation going into next year (given that starters 3 and 4 can be as good as starters 1 and 2).

[LookitsPuck]

Just amazing! Great job, Tilly!

[waroriole]

It's amazing how improved his fastball is. I still think his secondaries are lacking but at least he can set them up well.

Yep, and it's amazing how effective he is when he trusts his fastball.

[Flash- bd]

Yep, and it's amazing how effective he is when he trusts his fastball.

Still, to say his secondaries are lacking is a bit hard on him. (They seem, in general, a bit underrated on here) His changeup and curve are definitely average-plus pitches. You could make a very good case that Tillman has the best secondaries on our starting staff (including Hammel).

[OFFNY]

Love it.

You talk too much, Jim.

You might want to tone your comments down a bit.

[Muihtil]

Good to see Chris finally make good on that natural talent. Phenomenal game.

If he ever gets to the point where he's consistently locating that first pitch curve (lead to a few walks tonight), the league better watch out.

[Barnaby Graves]

Still, to say his secondaries are lacking is a bit hard on him. (They seem, in general, a bit underrated on here) His changeup and curve are definitely average-plus pitches. You could make a very good case that Tillman has the best secondaries on our starting staff (including Hammel).

I don't like his location with the curveball. The change-up is definitely his better offering but it seems less like a lethal weapon than a way to give the batter a different look and maybe induce weak contact.

Compare his change-up use to a guy like Sale or Johan Santana/Erik Bedard in their prime (I know that's not entirely fair but work with me), those guys were using the change-up because the batter just didn't have a damn chance of hitting it. I don't see great movement but the control is pretty good. It doesn't HAVE to be that good, if he can locate and change speeds, he's doing just fine. But he's going to take his share of contact so he'll be more vulnerable to BABIP flukiness than pitchers with more deceptive offerings.

[weams]

Love it.

What else is there to say for the guy who out pitched Cy Sale on National TV.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xzwTlf73xsk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I guess our "club" got bigger.

[waroriole]

Still, to say his secondaries are lacking is a bit hard on him. (They seem, in general, a bit underrated on here) His changeup and curve are definitely average-plus pitches. You could make a very good case that Tillman has the best secondaries on our starting staff (including Hammel).

Yeah, I was referring to his first sentence. I agree that his secondaries are good pitches, with more potential.

[Fired-Up]

Tillman looks like a tank. He's tall, big and intimidating. He looks like he never tires. I'd want him on my side in a fight. You just can't wear him down.

[Flash- bd]

I don't like his location with the curveball. The change-up is definitely his better offering but it seems less like a lethal weapon than a way to give the batter a different look and maybe induce weak contact.

Compare his change-up use to a guy like Sale or Johan Santana/Erik Bedard in their prime (I know that's not entirely fair but work with me), those guys were using the change-up because the batter just didn't have a damn chance of hitting it. I don't see great movement but the control is pretty good. It doesn't HAVE to be that good, if he can locate and change speeds, he's doing just fine. But he's going to take his share of contact so he'll be more vulnerable to BABIP flukiness than pitchers with more deceptive offerings.

As you recognize, comparing his change-up to Sale's or Santana's (the latter's change-up being like, you know, the paradigm case for an awesome swing-and-miss changeup) has its limits. Still, based on the results this year, Tillman's is pretty good. It's pitch value (/100) is 2.48, the highest of his offerings. I tend to agree that Tillman's change-up isn't as much a swing-and-miss pitch as a keep-batters-off-balance pitch, as it doesn't have special movement or fade to it (though the arm action is quite good, as is the differential, and it's probably the pitch he controls best, from what I've seen), but whiff/swing rate on it is pretty high (27.54%), the highest of his pitches (Curveball comes in at 22.41%) outside of the slider (which is barely higher at 28.21%), which he's thrown about half as much as his change-up.

http://brooksbaseball.net/player_cards/player_card.php?player=501957 (As his pitch value would suggest, the change-up is also getting hit with less authority than any of his other pitches, including the SL--which currently ranks as his second best pitch/100 on fangraphs--where his HR/FB+LD is 1.96% w/ the CH and 6.67% w/ the SL, and his LD/BIP is 13.39% w/ the CH, lowest of his pitches not named the SL....In regards to the slider...and even somewhat w/ the change, we can't discount SSS effects, he's thrown 530 CH and 246 SL according to brooks baseball so we can take this with at least a small grain of salt)

As for his curveball/slider (I'm not sure I feel comfortable making the differentiation between these two pitches at this point, it's probably more useful just to refer to them as his breaking ball--EDIT: that is, in terms of sabermetric reports it's hard to say where exactly the threshold exists where a pitch's tilt takes it from being a curve to a slider. Naturally, they are different pitches but I think the data on it/his curveball has its limits this year, due to SSS factors and the fact that some of his curveballs are probably bleeding into his sliders, and visa versa), I think it's a plus pitch but he definitely struggles to command it. So I guess that's more of a philosophical argument whether you factor in command into the discussion of the "rating" of the pitch, but either way, like I said, I think Tillman's secondaries are quite good on the whole and rather under appreciated from what I've seen here on the OH.

Yeah, I was referring to his first sentence. I agree that his secondaries are good pitches, with more potential.

My comment was more directed at Barnaby, and I quoted you (as you were quoting Barnaby) out of pure laziness. So yeah, I didn't mean to imply anything about your assessment of Tilly.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Wow, that was something. He didn't have great command of anything, but the stuff was so overwhelming that it didn't matter much. That slight across the body thing he has going on really does look a little Jered Weaver-like. The hitters are clearly picking up the fastball very, very late. He kept notorious fastball hitters like Konerko and Youkilis off 91-92 mph fastballs all night long.

That is two starts in a row where he showed a pretty nasty little slider in the 82-84 mph range against righties. Where did that come from? The location can be erratic, but damn the break is late, sharp, down, and away. The hitters are getting no read on that thing at all and he is getting really weak contact on it. It is also propping up the fastball even more.

The thing I loved with Tilly tonight is that he looked completely calm even with guys on base after walks. He looked sure that he would get the next hitter. That combo serene but confident look is really interesting and completely new this year.

We may really have something here. The pitcher I saw tonight is Buckholz-like with a better fastball. He was throwing 5 pitches (4SFB, 2SFB, slider, curve, and change) and mixing them in almost any count.

Consistency is his biggest issue. He needs to do this repeatedly.