Zach Britton promoted to Triple-A

[RVAbird]

Yes, I agree Berry could be on the radar screen if he continues to pitch well and stays healthy for the rest of 2010. However, I don't see any further promotions for him this year and he probably won't be asked to stretch his innings out until 2011. So, he's not big-league ready until mid-2012 even in an optimistic scenario IMO.

Right, and I agree, but my point was that we still look like we'll be able to graduate at least one legitimate pitching prospect in each of the next two years (even if Britton gets a cup of coffee in this year he won't graduate until 2012).

Not every system can graduate a top 10 SP prospect year after year.

[clarence]

and just think, we have Hobgood on the horizon.

[QBsILLEST1]

In my opinion we moved Tillman to fast. I would hope we don't rush ZB to the majors. Player development must be looked at closely to ensure we are instructing and developing them properly. The O's do not have a good track record with prospects being successful over the last 10 years as a group.

I dunno, there are 2 sides to this, I mean he pitched very well while in our system and really did deserve his promotions. The problem is more IMO on the development side(coaching I guess partially and maybe his ability to listen to the coaches, or just plain execution). He was finding success by pitching up in the zone, did the coaches feel he could get away with that or did they legitimately attempt to get him to keep the ball down in the zone and he just didn't execute?

Now, I previously had the same opinions as you on this, I theorized that his ability to keep the ball down was going to come around, it was just pretty much the last part of refinement in his learning curve. I figured he moved so quickly, that he just hadn't refined that part of his game yet, but he would, just at the ML level rather than at the MiL level where he would have if he had been able to take his time while flying through the system. IMO this is the difference between Britton's future in the ML and Tillman's. Britton could have gotten through the MiL just with the use of his devastating sinker/slider combo, but he knew he needed to use the changeup more(and improve the pitch) to be successful at the ML level. So he worked on that, and it was a bit rocky at first in AA, but as we see, he ended up making it work for him. Tillman either didn't recognize his need to pitch down in the zone or did and just couldn't execute it and here we are today with him having regressed and pitching up in the zone and suddenly not looking anything like even a mid rotation arm.

Britton shouldn't be rushed, but when he is promoted to the ML, he will be much more prepared IMO than Tillman. We already know he won't have the same problems Tillman has had with pitching up in the zone(or else he wouldn't have a 3 to 1 GO/AOP ratio with the use of his sinker).....

I haven't had a chance to see Tillman this year and I haven't seen the movement on his cutter, but I know personally that the cutter can ruin an arm just as the slider can. There is a thin line between a slider and a cutter and if Tillman is flicking his wrist to the side(like when throwing a slider) when throwing his cutter, he could have done major damage to his elbow which could give us an idea why he suddenly had such a regression in his stuff. When throwing a cutter, you aren't supposed to throw it like the slider, you are supposed to throw it like a FB and let the offset grip make the ball cut.

All I know is that Tillman we saw last year could have been a mid rotation arm, even with him pitching up in the zone, but when you suddenly don't have the same "stuff", thats when your ceiling goes out the window....

And I honestly haven't seen Tanaka, but to me he sounds like a future long-man out of the pen......Lots of pitches, none of them wow you, but apparently good command.

[accinfo]

In my opinion we moved Tillman to fast. I would hope we don't rush ZB to the majors. Player development must be looked at closely to ensure we are instructing and developing them properly. The O's do not have a good track record with prospects being successful over the last 10 years as a group.

Maybe Tillman was moved too fast but certainly his success in the minors tells you otherwise. You can tell Tillman that what he is doing in AAA to get hitters out wasn't going to work in the majors all you want but sometimes a player isn't going to believe it until they get to the majors and get hammered a little. Maybe now Tillman will make the necessary adjustments to his approach, mechanics or whatever it takes to get to the next level. As they say you can tell the child not to touch the fire all you want but until he gets burned he doesn't quite figure it out.

That said just because Tillman may have not been ready it doesn't mean that Britton won't be. Was Brian Matusz rushed to the majors? I don't think so. I know he hasn't dominated but he also has been snakebitten a little. At least 2/3 of his major league starts have been pretty good. If Zach Britton goes to AAA, shows command, pitches lights out like a 2.00 to 2.5 era then it is tough not to promote him unless the big club is getting consistent starts from all five pitchers in the rotation. That at this point has not been close to happening. I hope it does because that would be a nice problem to have.

[LookinUp]

I don't know if this is possible, but I sure hope Tillman focuses first on his stuff and then on his ability to locate.

It doesn't matter what he's working on if his stuff isn't what it used to be.

I suppose the third thing he needs to work on is deception (if that's possible). Not sure where that fits.

[QBsILLEST1]

I don't know if this is possible, but I sure hope Tillman focuses first on his stuff and then on his ability to locate.

It doesn't matter what he's working on if his stuff isn't what it used to be.

I suppose the third thing he needs to work on is deception (if that's possible). Not sure where that fits.

His delivery is so smooth and effortless, it looks like with a little more effort he could throw 5 MPH harder, not sure if he actually could, but it looks like he could. But, I agree his deception isn't very strong, but at the same time, the downward plane he gets on his pitches are a big plus. Kinda opposite from Jake Arrieta......

I do agree, if his stuff isn't as good as it was, then he won't be as good as originally projected....