He is a pitching surgeon on the mound, a doctor of the science and the art of throwing a baseball to get batters out. Tyler Pill adheres to the Greg Maddux philosophy of pitching using guile and finesse to figure out a way to out fox his competitors. Pill is fast becoming one of the most consistent starting arms of the Double-A Binghamton Mets starting pitching rotation, tossing seven shutout innings of five-hit ball to win his seventh consecutive decision for the B-Mets last night, as Binghamton topped Richmond, 9-6.
It wasn’t always this easy for Pill this year. Shut down at the close of 2013 from a Bennett lesion in his pitching shoulder, Pill got off to a tortoise like start in Binghamton this spring. The right-hander started the season on wobbly legs losing the first five games he started.
After horrendous starts in his first three outings, things began to turn around for Pill in his fourth start, a 4-0 B-Met loss in Akron. Pill pitched 5 innings and allowed only one run that day and has been a steady anchor in the rotation ever since.
Pill’s break through win would wait until May 11th, his sixth outing of the season, a 2-1 victory in Harrisburg. Pill pitched 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball striking out seven without walking a batter that day, starting an impressive run of 14 appearances on the hill, all but one as a starter. Yesterday’s win gives the B-Mets 12 wins in those 14 appearances, with Pill logging victories in each of his last seven decisions.
A look at Pill’s statistics over his first three starts as compared to his last 15 Double-A outings is testimony of his remarkable turnaround and his consistency on the mound after a slow start.
Games Inn H R ER BB SO HR ERA
1-3 14 23 15 15 5 8 3 9.64
4-18 95.2 80 33 30 22 92 6 2.82
Like a surgeon in the operating room, Pill’s attention to detail, his calm and poise under pressure, his capacity to maintain his focus when he’s fatigued, and his commitment to the task serves him well on the pitching hill. Sometimes overlooked in the stable of young Mets power pitching prospects, Pill is fast discovering pitching is as much about using movement and location to disrupt the timing of a hitter’s batting rhythm than simply throwing cheddar.
Pill’s fastball hangs between 87 and 90 mph with an occasional uptick when needed, but a somewhat deceptive delivery can make it appear a tad quicker. At an athletic 6’1” and 185 pounds, Pill maintains what he has as zip on his pitches throughout an outing.
It’s his mix of off-speed pitches, his curveball, slider and a swing-and-miss change-up with movement that make Pill difficult to hit.
For Tyler Pill pitching is intellectual as well as a physical pursuit. In an interview early in his professional career, Pill compared a pitching start with putting together a puzzle. According to Pill, a big part of the task is to figure out each hitter, to determine what it is each hitter struggles to hit. It’s a “learn-as-you-go” process that stays fresh and motivating every time he takes the mound. It means understanding his limitations and maximizing his strengths, something he has accomplished with amazing consistency for much of the 2014 season in Binghamton.
Another asset he adds to his baseball resume is the ability to handle the bat at the plate. A two-way athlete in college, he played right field when he wasn’t pitching at Cal State Fullerton. In fact during his sophomore season at Cal State, Pill had a very impressive batting stat line hitting .354 with a .411 OPB and a .535 slugging percentage. That year he hit seven home runs, scored 43 runs and knocked home 42 RBI.
Pill has carried that batting prowess to Binghamton. In limited chances at the plate he is hitting .438 and has yet to strike out this year. Pill came a triple shy of the cycle during his 6-0 win over Richmond in June going 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, a home run, and four RBI. That’s a prescription for a Tyler Pill Binghamton baseball remedy.