Baltimore Orioles: A Look at the 3 Players from the Zach Britton Trade
By Ben Palmer
Dillon Tate – RHP
Obviously this was the big get for the Orioles in this trade. Drafted with the fourth-overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, Dillon Tate flashes potential of being a solid major league starter, though he’s not without concerns.
Tate had a really nice year in the minors last year. Between High-A and Double-A, he pitched to a 2.81 ERA with a 6.82 K/9 over 13 starts and 83.1 innings pitched. While the strikeouts aren’t exactly what you’d hope for, the ERA is great, and the strikeouts have improved this year.
So far this season, in Double-A, Tate has pitched to a 3.38 ERA with an 8.17 K/9 over 15 starts and 82.2 innings pitched. Again, a solid season, though considering he’s 24 years old, there’s an argument to be made that he should be doing well in Double-A.
Tate throws a plus fastball, though his velocity on the pitch has sort of been inconsistent. Generally, the pitch sits around 91-94 MPH, though he has the ability to ramp it up to 98 on occasion. He also tosses a slider and changeup that both show potential of being above-average pitches and his control is solid.
He’s been pretty consistently starting throughout his professional career to this point, however there’s speculation as to whether he’ll stick as a starter in the major leagues or end up in the bullpen.
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If he’s able to get the strikeouts up, perhaps ramp up the velocity on his fastball a bit, and continue to develop his offspeed pitches, Tate certainly has the potential to be a solid member of the Baltimore Orioles starting rotation. At worst though, he’ll end up a decent reliever.