Is he still working on that cutter? I thought one of the pitching coaches (Kranitz or Griffin, not sure) had said that he was going to stay down and just work on that extra pitch, that he should just relax and not worry about wins and losses. If he's doing this well while still working on that pitch, that's *really* encouraging.

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Jeff Z's reply: Yes, he's also working on a two-seam fastball as well. He threw both his cut fastball and his two-seam fastball today and he was particularly encouraged by his cutter.

What was his velocity? It was scary watching him in San Francisco a little while back when he was 87 MPH belt high.

I really hope the O's let him stay in AAA for awhile to keep working on those pitches. Two mistakes at the beginning of this year were rushing Bergesen when he hadn't pitched in a long time and Reimold coming off injury. Allow Tillman to work on these pitches or the same results will happen if he comes back and throws a straight fastball in the majors.

I watched the game live and he did an awesome job...What amazed me the most is that it was 90 degrees and he was still throwing in the 90s in the 9th inning...The Knight's pitcher ran out of gas around the fifth and he was one of their best.

it's absolutely amazing how long it took the orioles to get someone to work with tillman about changing the grip on his fastball so he would have some movement on it. the big reasons the orioles stink is because they don't have enough good scouts in the minors who can recognize talent nor do they have enough good coaches who can develop talent. can you think of any good reason why it took so long for someone to get to tillman and work with him on his fastball.. did everyone in the organization think tillman could be successful throwing a 90-93 mph fastball with no movement and pitch with no real command of his breaking ball or change? and you wonder why this organization has been one of the worst in sports over the last 25 yrs.

Yeah? That's great....

Big deal...

I'm getting tired of hearing about Tillman and his AAA exploits.

Can he do it consistently in the bigs?

That remains to be seen.

Is it the pitching coach at Norfolk? Because these guys struggle when they come up here.

This is great news but I still hope they leave Tillman and bergensen dominating at AAA until they create an opening in the rotation in the next couple of weeks deadline trade although millwoods value is falling fast.. I suspect this could be the year they trade guthrie if they get a decent offer. I still believe Guthrie can pitch well here or somewhere else.. Perhaps lugos bat waking up will get someone willing to take him.

they struggle because thats what rookie pitchers do they tease you then they do badly or lose confidence and change things.

Orioles fans are expecting Rookies to come in and all be 10-15 game winners when that will not be the case in most scenarios. BE patient with the young pitchers. It takes a few years for them to really get good

JEFF, DO you think the orioles will trade a starter (Guthrie or Millwood) in july ??

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Jeff Z's reply: Yes I do. But at this point, not sure they could get anything for Millwood and Guthrie's not been pitching well either. They're not just going to dump them for nothing.

Seems like we have an awesome AAAA pitcher on our hands. Trade him but a power hitter.

If the O's will leave him alone and let him develop at Norfolk he might be ready next year.

Everyone is in such a rush.

I'd like to see them win 15 or so in AAA before expecting them to do it in the big leagues.

Tillman shows what a difference there is between AAA and the bigs. The hitters in the majors are just so good.

What we've learned is that Tillman is great AAA pitcher, and that's where he needs to finish out his season. If his performances start like this in 2011, he should be moved up in June 2011.

No JDH, he clearly already knows how to get out AAA scrubs, if there is any hope for this guy it needs to come thru the bullpen getting MAJOR LEAGUE hitters out and than fighting his way into the rotation.

TIllman dominating AAA is a waste of time.

IMO he's trade bait

I hope the O's take the road to success by way of the pitching farm system. Good scouting and a quality pitching coach have what made the Yankees and Red Sox what they are today. A few big expenditures on bats have helped but take away Lester, Bucholz, Hughes, Chamberlain, Pettite and Papelbohn and the AL East is much closer when it comes to pitching. Granted thay have both spent a lot on Beckett, Matsuzaka and Sabathia, but only Sabathia has been healthy and consistent . The O's wishfully missed the boat thinking Roberts would be back from a disc injury, Rheimold would be 100% after an achilles issue and were dreaming when they thought Guthrie would return to form. They also should have kept a veteran catcher to help the youngsters confidently through issues. Wieters and Tatum may be decent defensively but don't have the experience to instill confidence the way a Varitek and Posada can. Putting the Dipper behind the plate in the bullpen would have helped a lot.

It's amazing all the experts that comment here. Keep in mind that Tillman is just 22 years old.

The problem with baseball in general and especially here in B'More is that there is so much hype about guys today. Before they take their first at bat or throw the first pitch everyone say this guys the best that ever played the game and when they struggle a little because there is a difference between the big's and AAA they want to dump on them.

Get a clue. This is an extremely difficult game and most that play it fail, that the facts, which is why we all watch the games instead of participating.

The talent in general is watered down since expansion and alot of the talent up in the majors today would not have even made to the bigs before they expanded.

I played against ex-major league guys and alot of ex-AAA players who were very good but not even close to being able to make it as a pro. It's just a very difficult game.

You can point the finger at the coaches, scouts who ever you want but have you ever tried to get a 22 year old to do anything their told, forget baseball.

It's just like all the people commenting on the O's, everyone forgets that 2/3's of the team is under 25 years old. It takes time for most of these players figure it out and I'm betting that Strasberg has his share of problems as well. Most pitcher don't figure it out before they turn thirty, so how about we all take a deep breath and let the kid learn the game and wait to judge him in another ten years.

As another commenter mentioned, I really don't see why Tillman is not in the big league bullpen right now. It's true he's young and we need to exercise patience, but I think it's pretty clear at this point that he has developed to the point that AAA is not a huge challenge for him. You have to wonder when you get to that point (a no-hitter, a one-hitter, a 2.72 ERA) how much he's actually developing or learning at this level.

Personally, I want to see him in the big league bullpen, learning how to get big league hitters out. I totally agree with Samuel and MacPhail that he has to get innings, but I don't agree that he can only get innings in the minors. What is the major league team playing for that is so important that they can't make sure one of their top young arms gets regular work out of the bullpen? Many good major league pitchers (and of course many of Earl Weaver's Orioles) cut their teeth in the bullpen. This seems like such an obvious time to do it. I really hope they reevaluate his role post-All Star break.

to drunk_richard

tillman can get aaa hitters out becuase aaa are discipline like major league hitters. major league hitters just waited for his fastball which had no movement and crushed it. tillman needs to gain confidence in throwing his fastball with a different grip so it moves.. needs to command that pitch and also needs to command his off speed pitches adn have confidence in them before he has a chance to be successful in the majors. so he needs to stay at norfolk and continue to work on his "new" fastball and his breaking ball. makes no sense for him to learn how to pitch in the majors.

Clay Buchholz had an ERA of about 6.50 in his first MLB season (15 starts). I believe David Price's ERA was over 5 for the first 2-3 months last year. Some of these posters would have declared them failures and demanded they be traded.

It's funny to me that some people on here think that Tillman is a AAAA pitcher but that we should trade him. You think that you've somehow figured out something that professional scouts from every other organization have missed? These guys do this for a living.

Now is absolutely the wrong time to trade him, because his value is at a low. He's not going to fetch a big power bat. right now. And it's not the right time to give up on him in any event. Like Nashville pointed out, plenty of pitchers struggle when they reach the majors and go on to become very good or excellent starters.

AAAA at best. Hope I'm wrong.

Some of the comments on this blog are almost a sociological study in what it means to be a human being (Western Hemisphere anyway) in the 21st century. Blame it on reality TV, TV in general, fluroide in the water, I don't know, but no one has any...and I mean ANY...patience. If a guy doesn't come to the Bigs and instantly be a 20 game winner, there must be something wrong with the guy, his pitching coach, his high school coach, and his podiatrist, so dump him. These are not machines. These are not NASCAR racers. These are human beings and their physical performance is greatly influenced by their physical, mental and emotional status. Remember Mike Boddicker? Savior of 1983 (let's face it, Mike doesn't win those 16 games when he came in after a third of a season when Flanagan messed up his knee, we don't go to the World Series)? Well, he was a prospect before that. In fact, I remember when he came up in 1980--1980!--as a prospect and got beat by Rick Waits as I recall (and beat badly) by the hapless Indians. THREE MORE YEARS before he really made it. And he himself would endure a 13 GAME LOSING STREAK. Think we should have dumped him? The man won 16 for us in 1983 and went on to become a 20 game winner. This is why people wait and aren't fast to tinker with ball players. Let them do what they did to get them here and give them the latitude to believe in themselves and their abilities and only when that fails to pan out, then start trying new pitches, otherwise risk permanently messing up the kid's confidence and his ability to manifest his talent positively on the field. Anyway, I have no reason to believe Tillman won't be successful in the major leagues. Whether it's in Baltimore is another matter. For as we have seen with pitchers like Kevin Millwood and Brian Matusz this season, it's much more than just the pitcher that translates into wins and losses. A great pitcher can still have a losing record if he doesn't have good defense playing behind him (I'm sorry, but right now we have a DH playing first base and a DH at third) and nobody who can hit. That takes an extreme toll on a pitcher's ability to perform to the highest level. But that's another post...

Not to mention Rick Porcello's demotion earlier this year, after his great rookie season. It just amazes me how Baltimore fans want to convince people how they know more than anyone else by buring a guy's career this early.