Young pitchers were all the rage last summer in Baltimore, they represented the future hope of the Orioles franchise. The first to make the bigs came when Alfredo Simon went down on April 21st. That was Brad Bergesen who had his debut delayed by rain for over an hour, but got the victory and never looked back. Bergesen nearly made the club in Spring Training but started in Norfolk for the first month of the 2009 season.

While his peers, Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, David Hernandez, and Jason Berken, all eventually made their appearances with the Orioles later in the season, no one had the constant success that Bergy had on the mound. While his stuff was never over powering, Bergesen commanded his fastball and progressively worked on getting further and further into games.

Brad had a number of successful games last season, though his best two were either his eight inning shutout against the Mariners or his complete game win against the Braves.

Bergesen’s season came to a halt when Billy Butler hit a line drive off of Bergesen’s shin on July 30th. He looked to rehab the injury and come back for the rest of the season, but eventually the Birds shut him down for 2009.

Despite being set back due to a shoulder injury while shooting a commercial for the Orioles, the O’s have high expectations for Bergesen in 2010. He should be a shoo-in for the starting rotation and many will be watching Bergy closely to make sure he continues to advance and grow in his second major league season. His stuff will never blow batters away, but his command and pitch selection set Bergesen apart from the rest of the young starters in the Orioles franchise.