So that was what the scouts saw
Saturday night against the Texas Rangers Tillman showed what the scouts had saw. Tillman two-hit the Rangers, pitching seven and a third innings while out pitching former Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee.
The difference in his overall “stuff” was easily noticeable, Tillman had a fastball that was hitting 93 mph and he was more confident using breaking pitches that had the batters guessing. His groundball to flyball ratio greatly improved in favor of groundballs.
Orioles fans and media members were very concerned about Tillman before this start because his fastball was very straight and looked very hittable. The lack of velocity on the fastball was also a concern, compounded by the unwillingness to throw different pitches like his new cut fastball during a game.
This outing is very encouraging for the Orioles organization, they got to see that Tillman could get it done at the big league level.
Remember Tillman is still very young and has room to improve it will be fun to see if he can reach his full potential with the Orioles.