Chris Tillman Today, 2013

[weams]

Anyone know if those two great catches by Jones would have been homers in Camden Yards?

OPACY is fairly deep to center.

[osbaseball08]

The curveball was a thing of beauty.

Real positive outing tonight.

[sevastras]

Funny that he is getting such great praise. I am usually a very positive person, but I felt as though Tillman kind of struggled tonight. He had trouble at the beginning of the game getting first pitch strikes, and fell behing a lot of batters. Half way through the game I thought about how wildly effective he was being and joked to myself about starting a thread about how dominate Tillman was. He, at that point had only allowed 3 hits, but was terribly high on pitch count and was fairly lucky to be in the position he was. I am happy with the results, but felt as though if it were many other teams he would have been in serious doo doo tonight. I am not trying to be down, because as many of you know I have a very positive outlook on this team. He just didnt seem as dominate as the box shows.

[Il BuonO]

Funny that he is getting such great praise. I am usually a very positive person, but I felt as though Tillman kind of struggled tonight. He had trouble at the beginning of the game getting first pitch strikes, and fell behing a lot of batters. Half way through the game I thought about how wildly effective he was being and joked to myself about starting a thread about how dominate Tillman was. He, at that point had only allowed 3 hits, but was terribly high on pitch count and was fairly lucky to be in the position he was. I am happy with the results, but felt as though if it were many other teams he would have been in serious doo doo tonight. I am not trying to be down, because as many of you know I have a very positive outlook on this team. He just didnt seem as dominate as the box shows.

Yup really great job of fighting past a couple shaky innings. Veteran-type maturity in getting back on track.

No, while he wasn't dominant I think this quote said it best. He didn't have his best stuff, outside of the quick 6 pitch inning and the inning when he struck out the side. He often fell behind in the count, but it's to his credit that he often fought back in those counts and only walked two on the night. Chris has learned better how to trust his stuff and pitch within himself. When he does that and has command of the breaking stuff with the CH he can be tough.

[OriolesFaithful]

Funny that he is getting such great praise. I am usually a very positive person, but I felt as though Tillman kind of struggled tonight. He had trouble at the beginning of the game getting first pitch strikes, and fell behing a lot of batters. Half way through the game I thought about how wildly effective he was being and joked to myself about starting a thread about how dominate Tillman was. He, at that point had only allowed 3 hits, but was terribly high on pitch count and was fairly lucky to be in the position he was. I am happy with the results, but felt as though if it were many other teams he would have been in serious doo doo tonight. I am not trying to be down, because as many of you know I have a very positive outlook on this team. He just didnt seem as dominate as the box shows.

I honestly think he realized he didn't have to paint corners with this team. After his shaky start, he was throwing a lot of juicy strikes over the heart of the plate, which, aside from three pitches, they didn't hit very hard. You're right in that a lot of other teams would have fared better, but I think he started to trust his stuff and throw strikes and see if they could hit it. Most of the time, they couldn't.

So I agree he could have "been in serious doo doo" against another team, but I give him props for adjusting and doing what needed to be done to get past a below-average lineup.

[Flash- bd]

No, while he wasn't dominant I think this quote said it best. He didn't have his best stuff, outside of the quick 6 pitch inning and the inning when he struck out the side. He often fell behind in the count, but it's to his credit that he often fought back in those counts and only walked two on the night. Chris has learned better how to trust his stuff and pitch within himself. When he does that and has command of the breaking stuff with the CH he can be tough.

To be honest, I think he was flashing his best stuff we've seen this season. His FB velo was the highest it's been this season (avg. 94.0 on 4-seem, which according to brooksbaseball he threw only 11 times, and 93.57 on his cutter, thrown 51 times, with a whiff percentage of 15.69%. Cross referencing with fangraphs, his highest FB velocity before that was 93.1--2 games ago against Toronto--and last time out he was at a solid 92.0, so it suggests this is a positive trend likely related to the weather. It's too bad brooksbaseball doesn't combine the cutter and 4-seem into one category, as I'm guessing the 51 'cutters' he threw were in fact FB grip, but perhaps it says something about the movement on his FB that it was classified as a cutter by the pitch f/x)

For this reason, for me it was a pretty exciting/encouraging performance, considering as well the 8 Ks, as it's nice to see Tilly's velo rising with the weather and his K total unsurprisingly rising with it, gives hope that he can sustain this level of performance through the summer and into September.

edit: 93.64 between the 'cutter' and the 4FB (easy enough math )

[Il BuonO]

To be honest, I think he was flashing his best stuff we've seen this season. His FB velo was the highest it's been this season (avg. 94.0 on 4-seem, which according to brooksbaseball he threw only 11 times, and 93.57 on his cutter, thrown 51 times, with a whiff percentage of 15.69%. Cross referencing with fangraphs, his highest FB velocity before that was 93.1--2 games ago against Toronto--and last time out he was at a solid 92.0, so it suggests this is a positive trend likely related to the weather. It's too bad brooksbaseball doesn't combine the cutter and 4-seem into one category, as I'm guessing the 51 'cutters' he threw were in fact FB grip, but perhaps it says something about the movement on his FB that it was classified as a cutter by the pitch f/x)

For this reason, for me it was a pretty exciting/encouraging performance, considering as well the 8 Ks, as it's nice to see Tilly's velo rising with the weather and his K total unsurprisingly rising with it, gives hope that he can sustain this level of performance through the summer and into September.

edit: 93.64 between the 'cutter' and the 4FB (easy enough math )

When I say stuff, I mean that he can command. I think we can all say Arrieta has great stuff. He rarely commands it.

As for the cutter, that is a FB. His cutter is thrown at 88-90 and looks similar to a slider without as much break. I'm skeptical with their classification and saying he threw it 51 times.

[Flash- bd]

When I say stuff, I mean that he can command. I think we can all say Arrieta has great stuff. He rarely commands it.

As for the cutter, that is a FB. His cutter is thrown at 88-90 and looks similar to a slider without as much break. I'm skeptical with their classification and saying he threw it 51 times.

Indeed, hence why I put cutter in " " s and calculated the velocity average between the apparently 51 FBs that moved a bit more than the other 11, which brooksbaseball classified as cutters. And gotcha on what you meant, I figured that, but wanted to emphasize that Tillman's stuff was good last night anyways, as I didn't see much talk of it here really.

[CA-ORIOLE]

When I say stuff, I mean that he can command. I think we can all say Arrieta has great stuff. He rarely commands it.

As for the cutter, that is a FB. His cutter is thrown at 88-90 and looks similar to a slider without as much break. I'm skeptical with their classification and saying he threw it 51 times.

Yeah the data can be pretty innacurate. I'm seeing only about 14 % cutter for that game. In bd's defense it's been my experience the data shown by Brooks Baseball immediately after a game is automated data and is typically changed later by Brooks Baseball's evaluation process.

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/outcome.php?player=501957&gFilt=regular&&time=game&minmax=ci&var=pcount&s_type=2&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=06/05/2013

[Can_of_corn]

Every game thread when Tillman starts follows a pattern. First couple innings everyone freaks out about his pitch count and his velocity. Most of the time by the third inning you start getting the "Good inning". Next thing you know he ends up with a 6-7 inning effort with 3 or less runs.

[OFFNY]

.

TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS O (JUNE 9th)

Matt Joyce - RF

Benjamin Zobrist - 2B

Kelly Johnson - LF

Evan Longoria - DH

James Loney - 1B

Desmond Jennings - CF

Ryan Roberts - 3B

Jose Molina - C

Yunel Escobar - SS

Matthew Moore- RHP (8-1, 2.95 ERA)

http://baseballpress.com/lineup.php

[calmunderfire]

Chris Tillman is the only starter in our entire organization who can bring his C+ stuff to a game and go 7 innings and dominate. He's gotten to the point where he is effective. That's why people don't criticize the guy. When you are getting it done you leave him be.

[Mayor McCheese]

Chris Tillman....

Is our best pitcher :eektf:

Is that a good thing

[Dark Helmet]

Chris Tillman....

Is our best pitcher :eektf:

Is that a good thing

Depends. Tillman is a legit #3 with the potential for more. On the flip side, I'm not sure him being the O's best pitcher is good enough. That will depend on Hammel, Chen, and Gonzo. That said, Tillman is a keeper and I always thought he had the best shot out of the cavalry to reach his potential. I still wish he could get his pitch count down some, but I think Tillman is good for 115-120 pitches if needed. He seems to gain velocity and get stronger the longer he goes.

[Tx Oriole]

Chris Tillman....

Is our best pitcher :eektf:

Is that a good thing

Of course it is. He does get the job done. Right now who else?