Young Pitchers

If you're still here after 12 1/2 losing seasons, nobody has to tell you that being a baseball fan, particularly in this town, is a test of faith. The Orioles are in the midst of one of the worst seasons in franchise history and about the only reason left to pay attention is the supposedly unlimited potential of their stable of young pitchers — except that it doesn't seem so unlimited these days. Most of the top pitching prospects in the organization are still cutting their teeth at the major league level, and every day seems to take one of them to the top or the bottom of the developmental roller coaster that is the Orioles starting rotation.

Orioles shortstopJ.J. Hardy, who signed a long-term contract with the team during his terrific first season in Baltimore, said he signed a multi-year deal because he sees a lot of promise in the young players on the Orioles' roster. "Winning is important to me," he said. "I see a lot of potential. I really do. I feel like we've got a lot of young pitchers, and I think it's time for them to step up and do what they are capable of. I know that's what everyone has been saying for a couple of years now, but they've got a few more years under their belt, and I think it's time for them to go out and do it. " From a personal perspective, he said that having the security of the long-term deal has allowed him to enjoy the offseason and recharge his batteries for 2012.  "Signing that contract said a lot," he said.

The Orioles sent several of their top young pitching prospects to the mound Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays and came away with a 4-3 victory at Charlotte Sports Park. It wasn't the prettiest display of pitching prowess, but Jake Arrieta, Steve Johnson, Pedro Beato and Eddie Gamboa kept the Orioles in the game against a very representative Rays lineup in spite of some difficult innings. Arrieta had a rocky first, giving up three hits, including a two-run homer by Evan Longoria, but settled down to prevent any further scoring through the fourth inning.

Assuming there are no additional health concerns involving the starting rotation, the Orioles have set their 25-man roster, which includes young pitchers Chris Tillman and Brad Bergesen but not left-hander Zach Britton , the talk of this camp. The 23-year-old Britton was optioned Tuesday to Triple-A Norfolk with catcher Craig Tatum , who lost the backup backstop battle to Jake Fox . Also, infielder Brendan Harris was assigned to minor league camp Tuesday, and right-hander Justin Duchscherer (left hip soreness)

SARASOTA, Fla. -- The Orioles pitching staff has aged considerably over the winter months, but club officials say they wouldn't have it any other way.The off-season acquisition of veterans Rick Sutcliffe, Storm Davis and Dennis Rasmussen gives the club added depth and credibility, even if there is no guarantee that any of them will produce on the mound. The team is betting that the intangible experience factor has a positive effect on the youthful nucleus of the starting rotation."The players that we brought in here were pretty much handpicked," said manager John Oates, who presided over his first spring training workout yesterday at Twin Lakes Park.

Always, repeat, always keep your young pitchers.White Sox general manager Ron Schueler did not follow that advice. Consequently, the White Sox have a very good pitching staff, not a great one.They have a good future in the pitching department, not a very, very good one.Schueler, whose wise acquisitions included outfielders Tim Raines, Darrin Jackson and since-departed Ellis Burks, and second baseman Joey Cora, looked at the organization he inherited from...

When the Orioles signed Rick Sutcliffe as a free agent last winter, there were more than a few skeptics around Baltimore wondering whether the 36-year-old pitcher with a recent history of shoulder problems would turn out to be another Dwight Evans.Good guy to have around but a player who long since has seen the top of the hill. Eight years removed from his Cy Young season with the Chicago Cubs, three years past his last injury-free season, Sutcliffe was brought to Baltimore more to be a role model for the team's young pitchers than to be the ace of the staff.

As 14-year-old pitcher Michael Spracklin winds up, he has more television cameras trained on him than Barry Bonds going for a record-setting home run. Researchers at the Center for Motion Analysis at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford hope that what they learn by analyzing the moves of Spracklin and other young baseball pitchers will keep their young arms healthy enough to face down the next generation of sluggers. Studies of young pitchers are desperately needed because more and more of them are showing up at doctors' offices with damaged shoulders and elbows, said Dr. Carl Nissen, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Connecticut who is conducting a study of young pitchers at Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

Necessity is a stubborn mistress. The Orioles open spring training camp today with a clubhouse full of starry-eyed young pitchers and a whole lot of growing up to do if they are going to be competitive in the talent-rich American League East. Can't be helped. Sometimes you have to throw them into the pool and see if they can swim, and this is one of those times, but out of such uncertainty has grown some good starting rotations. The surprising Florida Marlins won the World Series last year largely because a group of young starting pitchers came together at just the right time to propel them to a wild-card berth and beyond.

Orioles vice presidents Mike Flanagan and Jim Beattie went into the offseason insisting offense was the priority, not pitching. Coming from two former big league pitchers, this seemed hard to believe, but that's precisely how they've executed their plan. They addressed shortstop (Miguel Tejada), catcher (Javy Lopez) and first base (Rafael Palmeiro) before finally adding a starting pitcher yesterday in Sidney Ponson. The starting rotation is still suspect. Ponson will head a staff that could include some combination of Kurt Ainsworth, Rodrigo Lopez, Eric DuBose, Matt Riley and Omar Daal.

Since Andy MacPhail took over as Orioles' president of baseball operations in June 2007, he has preached his mantra of "buy the bats and grow the arms. " Now, with several of the organization's top young pitchers already blossoming in the majors, MacPhail and the Orioles are faced with what to do with the left-handed prospect who might be the best of the bunch. Zach Britton pitched five more effective innings Tuesday against a depleted New York Yankees lineup, giving more credence to the talk among scouts this spring that Britton is the best unproven lefty in Florida.

Zach Britton and Chris Tillman, two of the Orioles' young guns and primary competitors for the open spots in the club's rotation, made the two-hour drive from Sarasota a day early. They hung out on Friday night and then pitched impressively together on Saturday, combining to allow three runs (one earned) in nearly eight innings pitched in the Orioles' 6-4 victory over the Houston Astros. Orioles manager Buck Showalter and pitching coach Mark Connor suggested Friday that the two leave early.

By all accounts, the battle for what might be the final slot in the Orioles' starting rotation is a friendly one, especially this early in the exhibition season. Chris Tillman took his turn Monday afternoon at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers and took a few licks from a pretty good Boston Red Sox lineup, but he was upbeat about his performance and in a rush to get back to Sarasota to see Zach Britton take the mound Monday night in the MASN-televised night game against the New York Yankees at Ed Smith Stadium.

— They grow up fast in the American League East. Either that or they go home early. Nowhere has that been more apparent than in the Orioles organization, where the previous pitching youth movement ran so hard aground that it's easy to forget that a lot of their top prospects were ever here. Sidney Ponson stands out, of course, and not in a good way. Matt Riley was supposedly bound for glory. Daniel Cabrera had can't-miss raw talent but missed anyway. Erik Bedard was the real deal, but contributed more to the Orioles' future by leaving then by anything he did in Baltimore.

Interim manager Juan Samuel expects inconsistency from his young pitchers; he knows ups and downs are what he's going to get when he writes their names on the lineup card. That still doesn't make it easy to deal with what he has received the past two games, when the organization's two most-heralded young hurlers heading into the season were chased early in thorough and embarrassing losses, the latest Monday's 8-1 thrashing by the Tampa Bay Rays. "It's getting to the point where we don't know which guy is going to show," Samuel said.

If you're still here after 12 1/2 losing seasons, nobody has to tell you that being a baseball fan, particularly in this town, is a test of faith. The Orioles are in the midst of one of the worst seasons in franchise history and about the only reason left to pay attention is the supposedly unlimited potential of their stable of young pitchers — except that it doesn't seem so unlimited these days. Most of the top pitching prospects in the organization are still cutting their teeth at the major league level, and every day seems to take one of them to the top or the bottom of the developmental roller coaster that is the Orioles starting rotation.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - One is an Aruban flamethrower who battled arm problems most of last season, another is two years removed from a 1-10 season and the other has trouble making his pitches go faster than 85 mph. Together, they are the future of the Orioles' franchise, Part I. Sidney Ponson, Jason Johnson and Josh Towers form the young nucleus of the Orioles' starting pitching rotation, and the organization is counting on each of them to make big...

You'd think the Phillies would have waited to let the hysteria die down over the Sal Fasano signing before announcing Tom Gordon's deal. He's a quality backup, and the equivalent of an extra coach, with surprising power and the ability to call a good game and work with young pitchers.

The Orioles sent several of their top young pitching prospects to the mound Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays and came away with a 4-3 victory at Charlotte Sports Park. It wasn't the prettiest display of pitching prowess, but Jake Arrieta, Steve Johnson, Pedro Beato and Eddie Gamboa kept the Orioles in the game against a very representative Rays lineup in spite of some difficult innings. Arrieta had a rocky first, giving up three hits, including a two-run homer by Evan Longoria, but settled down to prevent any further scoring through the fourth inning.

The Orioles had not officially announced the decision to jettison veteran catcher Chad Moeller in favor of inexperienced backup Craig Tatum, but the Orioles clubhouse was buzzing about it Tuesday morning, and a lot of people were scratching their heads. No disrespect to Tatum, who has worked hard to win the job and deserves to savor this moment, but the move runs counter to just about everything we were led to believe about the way the Orioles intended to groom their best young players.