Ticking Up: Chris Tillman
We’re not even two full weeks into the 2016 season. I’d give the typical blanket small sample sizes warning, but instead I’d advise reading Mike Podhorzer’s piece from earlier in the week. I agree with the premise of doing nothing, but Mike discusses exceptions (injuries) and readers also brought up exceptions and reasons for making early-season moves in the comments. I routinely draft one to two players who are disabled-list eligible in my leagues so that that I can speculate on players who flash something intriguing in the season’s first few weeks. Chris Tillman is just the type of player I’m talking about. I’m writing this article in advance of his third start of the season Thursday night, so the PITCHf/x data and numbers are from his first two starts. As you’ve probably guessed, the PITCHf/x data is enticing.
Tillman’s first start of the year lasted just two innings due to a lengthy rain delay. Unfortunately, I don’t have Tillman’s ear or any insider sources with the O’s, so I have no idea if he was asked to cut it loose in anticipation of a rain-abbreviated turn. The righty played good ol’ fashion country hard ball in the two-inning turn throwing 15 four-seam fastball, two curves and a pair of cutters in that start, per Brooks Baseball, and his heater was cooking at an average velocity of 94.63 mph. Last year, his four-seam fastball averaged just 92.63 mph, and it hasn’t averaged north of 93 mph since 2012. The extra ticks helped him tally four whiffs on the four-seam fastball. Skepticism is totally understandable, but he was once again lighting up the radar gun in his second start.
On April 8th, Tillman pitched five innings allowing four hits, two walks and one earned run with five strikeouts against the Rays. His heater was still sizzling averaging 93.53 mph, and he used his sinker as well which averaged 93.36 mph. Through two starts, Tillman’s four-seam fastball has generated 11 empty swings on 50 thrown and is up 1.23 mph on average from last year, and his sinker’s velocity is up 1.24 mph this year and has two whiffs on 15 thrown. The velocity alone is noteworthy, and the good news is that it doesn’t appear to be the result of a hot gun at Camden Yards in his first two turns. If anything, the gun might be a bit cold in Baltimore, according to the info at Brooks Baseball.
The extra oomph on the heater isn’t the only thing to like in the 27-year-old’s PITCHf/x profile, either. Tillman’s changeup has netted three whiffs on 15 thrown, and all of the changeups that have been put in play have been worm burners. The righty’s curve hasn’t missed a single bat on the dozen he’s thrown, but only two cuts have been taken against the pitch and resulted in a pair of foul balls. The veteran pitcher’s repertoire is rounded out by a cutter he’s throwing more frequently out the chute with an 11.54% usage rate. It has generated a pair of empty swings on 12 thrown. Overall, Tillman has 18 whiffs on 104 pitches thrown (17.3% whiff rate), and his swinging strike rate sits at 15.2% through two turns (10.4% league average). His total pitch count is the equivalent of one full, good start, so don’t go too crazy. That said, in the three years prior to Tillman’s clunker 2015 campaign, he earned — with the aid of good luck, according to his ERA estimators — a 3.42 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 82 starts spanning 499.2 innings. There are worse players to speculate on than a pitcher who’s had previous success in his mid-20s and was a highly-touted prospect.
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Brooks Baseball had his four-seam at 93.34 mph and his sinker at 92.70 mph against Texas last night. But alas, he got lit up to the tune of 6 ER on 9 hits and a walk. He only struck out one. It’s just one start, but I’m still a bit skeptical about Tillman. His next start is against Toronto, btw.
I would add in his SwStr% was down to 5.8%, bringing his average for the year down to average. Only one walk but he wasn’t fooling them.
Fun facts: Tillman last year gave up an 11.7 ERA in 25 innings against Toronto last year. In fact that was more than a third of the runs he gave up in total last year (out of 173 IP) were to Toronto. If you take Toronto’s splits out of his line last year, Tillman drops to a 3.8 ERA from a 5.0
I like that nugget of info about his work against the Blue Jays. You can count on two hands (that might be exaggerating a touch, but not much) the starters I’d use against them. By eliminating his starts against the Blue Jays, you eliminate starts I wouldn’t consider using him in for fantasy purposes. I tend to look at National League West starters and Coors Field similarly.
Not that it makes the line any better, but it should be noted that nearly all of the damage came in the 6th inning, during the 3rd time through the order, when he put up a 5 spot. Before that he was cruising.
Perhaps he’d benefit from Erasmo Ramirez-like handling of 5-6 innings and getting the hook. His struggles in the sixth and this comment prompted me to look at his PITCHf/x numbers third time through the order since 2012. Interestingly, he throws his four-seam fastball harder the third time through the order, has a higher whiff percentage on the pitch the third time through than the first time through, and his batting average on the pitch is lowest on trip three through the order. Conversely, his cutter goes from an effective pitch each of the first two times through the order (.195 average first time through and .154 average second tie through) to a batting practice pitch the third time through (.357 average and .607 slugging). I like a number of arms in the O’s bullpen, and it would be interesting to see how Tillman would look if he was told to ramp up the heater early and cut loose for five innings.
I definitely understand the skepticism, but I think he’s the type of seemingly unexciting starter you can keep tabs on from afar on a watch list for the time being.
Yeah, AL East is a tough division for him to ply his trade, and he’s no Mike Mussina. Maybe the added velocity gives him an impetus to change his approach and attack hitters differently the third time through the order.