Zach Britton promoted to Triple-A

[BowieMike]

Left-hander Zach Britton received word from Orioles director of player development John Stockstill during Monday's Baysox doubleheader that he has been promoted to Triple-A Norfolk.

He will join the Tides on Tuesday in Charlotte and make his Triple-A debut on Thursday.

EDIT:

Reaction from Britton and Baysox coaches can be found HERE

[itzDaBigE]

Excited to see how Britton handles the next level. Hopefully his progression continues nicely.

[accinfo]

Left-hander Zach Britton received word from Orioles director of player development John Stockstill during Monday's Baysox doubleheader that he has been promoted to Triple-A Norfolk.

He will join the Tides on Tuesday in Charlotte and make his Triple-A debut on Thursday.

More to come...

I think this is very good news. It is exciting to watch players progress. Hopefully this will help a Tillman sharpen up his game when he sees a competitor like Britton on his own team. Hopefully he will do well and give the Orioles some more options.

[QBsILLEST1]

Excited to see how Britton handles the next level. Hopefully his progression continues nicely.

I agree. I was honestly hoping for this becuase he has proven he deserves it, and also this means he will be seeing Baltimore pretty surely next season at the latest. I am hoping that he was dominating as of late because of the extra use of the changeup that we heard about recently. If so, then he does need to step up to tougher competition to complete the process of refinement of the pitch. When the AA hitters are being overmatched by you, it is no longer a challenge, its time to challenge ZB again and see what that new improved changeup(and the way he is now using it) can do against tougher hitters....

On a personal note, I am going to attempt to make it out to his first game assuming it is at Harbor Park. Now Britton will be pitching just 30 minutes from where I live....SWEET!

[BowieMike]

Just checked Norfolk's schedule... Britton will make his Triple-A debut at Harbor Park on Thursday night.

[QBsILLEST1]

Just checked Norfolk's schedule... Britton will make his Triple-A debut at Harbor Park on Thursday night.

Sweet, I can't wait to see him pitch.

Harbor Park can negatively effect both hitters and pitchers due to natural park effects. Hitters like Snyder change their approach because LF is where his power is and LF as we all know kills HRs due to the wind blowing in off the ocean. Then pitchers possibly like Tillman get away with pitching up in the zone and get away with long fly ball outs rather than HRs. He therefore finds success when he may not in other parks. I am not saying this is the only reason for his recent woes, but I am sure it is a part of it. Britton is naturally a GB pitcher who's approach IMO won't change because he knows that is his ticket to the ML....

[Who's On 1st]

Good for him.

But, I'll miss him in Bowie.

Glad I got to chat with him before Monday nights game.

[UMDTerrapins]

Great news. On pace for potentially a late season callup.

[Pat Kelly]

Being prepared (hopefully) to replace either Guthrie or Millwood if either is traded at the deadline.

[Frobby]

He earned this promotion, IMO. I think there is zero chance he will earn a further promotion to Baltimore this year. He should get settled in at AAA, keep working on his changeup, and learn what it takes to get more experienced hitters out. Then he goes into 2011 in about the same position Jake Arrieta was in this year, maybe even a bit ahead of Jake if he's able to post good AAA numbers in 2010.

[Hutman]

Congrats, Zach!!! Keep up the good work, hope to see you at the Yard soon, and look forward to seeing you at the Futures game.

[Hank Scorpio]

I expect Britton will continue to do just fine.

[Frobby]

One thing I'll say -- it appears that Britton is the last bullet in our arsenal for a while. Erbe has taken a big step backwards this year, and while I have some hopes for Spoone, I think there's not really a lot of rotation prospects for the next 2-3 years after Britton.

[TGO]

I don't suspect we'll see Britton until June 2011.

[Frobby]

Hopefully this will help a Tillman sharpen up his game when he sees a competitor like Britton on his own team.

Considering Tillman has played with Hernandez, Bergesen, Berken and Arrieta, I doubt he's going to be affected much by having another good young pitcher on his team. Tillman needs to do what he needs to do, and Britton needs to do what he needs to do. By the way, Tillman is 4 months younger than Britton despite having pitched 2-3 levels above him over the last couple of years. Everyone moves at their own pace.