Chris Tillman wanted more eggs for breakfast but couldn't communicate the thought from his high chair. So he grabbed an orange and flung it across the kitchen, hitting his grandmother flush in the back of the head.
Tillman wasn't quite 2, yet he had thrown his first strike.
"He's got an arm," joked Tillman's stepfather, David Sterrenburg. "Even then."
The orange-tossing incident goes down in family lore as the first time Tillman's right arm drew attention.
Nearly two decades later, it still is turning heads.
Considered the Orioles' top pitching prospect and one of the best in all of the minors, Tillman is expected to pitch Sunday in Major League Baseball's prestigious Futures Game in St. Louis. He also was named to the Triple-A All-Star team, but the Orioles declined the invitation, not wanting to overexpose their prized 21-year-old.
That will come soon enough: Tillman is next in line for the big-league rotation and he could be promoted within a month.
"He's really excelled to this point at any level," said Orioles' vice president Andy MacPhail. "I would imagine that if he stays healthy, he'll get his chance at this level."
MacPhail is admittedly conservative with his prospects, and Tillman was supposed to spend most, if not all, of the season at Triple-A Norfolk after excelling at Double-A Bowie in 2008. But his performance with the Tides has altered the timetable.
The youngest member of Norfolk's roster, Tillman is 7-5 with a 2.50 ERA in 16 starts. He has struck out 88 batters and walked just 22 in 86 1/3 innings. In two July starts, he is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, throwing 13 2/3 scoreless innings.
How lofty are the expectations for Tillman? He was one of five players the Orioles received from the Seattle Mariners when they traded Erik Bedard in February 2008. Two of the others, closer George Sherrill and outfielder Adam Jones, have made an American League All-Star team. And Tillman is still considered by some to be the jewel of the deal.
"The ceiling is so high on this kid, I don't know what else to tell you," said Norfolk pitching coach Mike Griffin. "His ability to adjust or adapt to things very quickly at such a young age is phenomenal. I've never had a young pitcher ... adapt and correct things immediately the way he can. It's something you can't teach, it's something he has within himself."
It has a lot to do with Tillman's personality, which Griffin refers to paradoxically as "quiet yet outgoing."
