Mack: - Hey girls and guys, today we're talking with the Mets 15th round pick in the 2011 draft, Tillman Thomas Pugh. Hey Tillman, how was your trip back home?
Pugh: - At this moment in time, I'm actually still at the airport in West Palm Beach, Florida and my flight does not leave till 4:10 EST, so I will not be arriving back in California until 11:00PM tonight Pacific Time. I still however am very ecstatic about the idea of being able to lay in my own bed tonight so I am really looking forward to that.
Mack: Kewl. Hopefully, somebody cleaned the sheets. Tell us about draft day and how it felt for you?
Pugh: - On draft day, I was still in Longview, Washington playing summer ball for the Cowlitz Black Bears, a first year team in the West Coast League. I was at practice with the team periodically checking my phone to see if I received any calls. After hitting in the cages for half an hour I came back to check my phone and I noticed that I had several missed calls from my scout Doug Thurman. After calling him back and realizing that the Mets drafted me in the 15th round, I felt very excited and somewhat shocked that I was drafted that high considering that I had not played a single game for my college team that spring. After telling my coaches and teammates the good news and hearing congrats from all of them I immediately called my parents and started to text a few of my close friends. It felt surreal to have so many people congratulate me and wishing me the best of luck with my future endeavors with professional baseball. It was a very humbling experience.
Mack: - You also "got out of Dodge" pretty quickly after that. You left your last game against the Lobos in the first inning. Did your agent call and tell you to pack your bag, son?
Pugh: - Well, it was actually the scout who told me that they wanted me to come back home asap in order to sign my contract and then head out to Florida to start playing. It was a real nice send off for me from the team and the fans however. My dad was in town so that we could drive my truck back home so they allowed me to be the lead off hitter of the game and get one final at bat as a Black Bear before I leave to start a pro career. The announcer announced to everyone that this would be my last at bat and it was amazing how much support I received from the fans out there in Washington.
Mack: - That's super... soooo.... you sign, head out for your first professional game... and... well. I tried to explain what happened next a couple of times online, but no one can talk about this better than you.
Pugh: - I remember being really excited and at the same very nervous for my first game against the Marlins as a professional. A lot of the coaches and players were joking around about me being thrown right into the swing of things after not playing for a year then coming in for my first professional game and being the leadoff hitter. As I took my practice swings getting ready to face this pitcher I was a little nervous, but I was trying to tell myself that there was nothing to be nervous about, that I have talent, and that I can do this. During the warmup tosses the guy was maybe throwing 85 MPH, nothing to special I thought to myself. I get into the box and the pitcher does not appear to have taken a sign. He immediately started to rock back to begin his windup and i thought to myself "here we go". Now as the leadoff hitter of the game and my first professional game I was going to take the first pitch so I was not even thinking about swinging so I guess I got a little lazy with my eyes and did not pick the ball up and the next thing I knew I was on the ground holding my face in excruciating pain and agony. The most intense pain did not kick in until maybe 10-15 minutes after getting hit when my face and I started to get feeling back in my face. Feeling the pain on the entire left side of my face, my lips, my nose, and I could not open my jaw, even enough to spit out the blood stuck in my throat from rupturing something in my nasal cavity. I received surgery a few days after that day and let me tell you, the post op pain was even worse than the initial hit. After about a week they allowed me to start running around, and by week 2 or so I was hitting off a tee in the cages, but no live pitching or coach pitch for another couple weeks. My first day back hitting on the field with the other guys, Sandy Alomar who usually throws BP to one or two groups threw me a first pitch curveball which had me nearly running out of the cage in fear of getting hit again. Everyone burst out laughing, even myself. Afterwards Sandy said he did that in order to get the fear out of me as soon as possible, and as he kept throwing them to me I started to get more and more comfortable at the plate until I came back to my first game against the Astros five weeks later. The first pitch I saw after coming back was an up and away fastball that I took for ball one and my entire team started clapping and cheering for me. It was probably one of the funniest and endearing moments I can remember this summer.
Mack: - I can't imagine a more fascinating question to any Mets prospect this month than that one... so you're back, and got off to a relatively slow start, but overall, are you happy with how you ended the season?
Pugh: - I mean considering the fact that I had not really played a whole season since last summer in New York, and that I missed five weeks after being hit in the face and still somewhat had a fear of being at the plate, I think I did ok taking all that into consideration. With only 60+ at bats I feel that I turned myself around a little bit towards the middle to end of the season there and got a little bit more comfortable at the plate. I saw the ball very well which I think is evident by my 15 walks with only 60 at bats, so I feel if I work on what I learned this summer in the off season I will only continue to get better and have a better feel for the game. I feel I learned more about the game of baseball in these few short months than I have learned in almost all my years of baseball put together. One of the coaches said something to us I’ll never forget. He said you guys have been playing baseball all your lives, but now that your here in pro ball your goal is to actually learn the game of baseball.
Mack: - Very well put. Last question Tillman (is it Tillman, or T.T., or T-Tom?)... what are your goals for 2011 and on what team are you planning on finishing the 2011 season on?
Pugh: - Ha ha… well, the only people who still call me T.T. are my mother, my aunt, and my grandmother. As for nicknames everyone usually just calls me Tilly, or several hundred different variations of that. My goals for 2011 are first and foremost come into spring with a healthy knee so that will be my focus during the off season. Secondly I just want to improve upon what I did and learned this summer, I want to come into spring training and not regress to where I was at in years past. I never want to look back and say I was better at this part of my game a few years ago, I want to be able to say I improved in every aspect of my game whether its defense in the outfield, or hitting for power and for average, stealing bags, and just all around understanding the game and certain situations a whole lot better. I hope to be a part of a full season ball club by the end of next year, but that all depends on the time and energy I devote to getting better this off season. So only time will tell where I will be. .
Mack: - (makes a good politician...) Okay Tillie... don't want my face winding up looking like yours did, so I'll stay away from T.T. Thanks for your time and I'll see you at Lucy in extended camp.
Old Tillie-stuff:
6-14 from: - http://tdn.com/sports/article_51482606-777d-11df-aff5-001cc4c002e0.html - Tillman Pugh didn't stick around long enough to see his Cowlitz Black Bears teammates put up their best offensive night of the fledgling wood-bat season. Pugh exited Sunday's game against the Portland Lobos in the first inning, setting off to begin his Major League career with the New York Mets. Meanwhile, Pugh's Black Bear teammates sent 25 batters to the plate in the first three innings, en route to an 11-0 shutout of the Lobos. Pugh started the game in center field and made one final appearance as leadoff hitter before getting in a car with his father and heading back to his hometown of Oakland. On Wednesday, Pugh will leave California for Florida, where he will become part of the Mets' minor-league system. "As a coach, you hate for your team to lose a player of his caliber," Cowlitz coach Bryson LeBlanc said. "But we all wish Tillman the best. The game comes easy to him. He's a physically gifted athlete. He can throw. He can run. He can hit. Really, what can't he do? I just told him to be sure to give me a call when he made the big leagues."
6-8 from: - http://tdn.com/sports/article_3f50b04c-736a-11df-a5f9-001cc4c03286.html - Tillman Pugh's summer odyssey to Cowlitz County will likely be a short one. The Cowlitz Black Bears center fielder and leadoff man learned from a newspaper reporter midway through Tuesday's workout at David Story Field that he had been selected in Major League Baseball's amateur draft earlier in the day. He was stunned. And honored. "That's awesome," said Pugh, who was selected by the New York Mets in the 15th round (452nd overall pick). "I didn't know if I'd get drafted again. I am excited about the opportunity." Pugh, 21, batted leadoff and started in center field in the Black Bears' first two games. He scored the first run in team history on Friday when he led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk and later scampered home on a single by Jason Mahood from the University of San Francisco. Pugh, who is 6 feet and 190 pounds with blazing speed, said he will sign with New York "once everything has been talked over on both sides." He worked out for the Mets in Los Angeles earlier this year and said "things went really well."
http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/pugh_tillman00.html - 2008 (Freshman): Appeared in eight games, batting .500 with one homer and one RBI...went 2-4 and scored three times...played for the Battlecreek Bombers of the Northwoods League over the summer. High School: A 2007 graduate of De La Salle High School in Concord, California...earned two letters in both football and baseball...earned Second Team All-League honors in 2005 and First Team honors in 2006...Second Team All-Metro in 2006...played running back for traditional high school football power De La Salle, scoring 15 touchdowns and gaining 1,137 yards.
6-11-09 from: - http://www.leaderherald.com/page/content.detail/id/513096.html?nav=5014 - With the 473rd pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft, the Seattle Mariners selected Tillman Pugh, who plays in the outfield for the Amsterdam Mohawks.Pugh recently completed his sophomore year at GateWay Community College in Phoenix,?Ariz."Tillman was adamant that he was not going to sign," Spagnola said Wednesday. "I don't know if he thought he'd go that high, though. As of yesterday [Tuesday], he was 100 percent not going to sign." Spagnola said he is happy for Pugh whether he decides to return to college or sign. If he signs, his career as a Mohawk will be short-lived, as he will leave when assigned by the Mariners. Pugh learned he was drafted in the 15th round as the Mohawks traveled to Watertown to play the Wizards Wednesday. "I really wasn't expecting it," Pugh said. "I wasn't expecting to go so high, so I'm thrilled. Someone overheard [the phone conversation] and everyone on the bus was congratulating me." Despite the surprise, Pugh said he was able to put his excitement aside and concentrate on Wednesday's game.
7-3-10: - So… you get drafted by the Mets and you sign a deal, hop in your ride and make your way to your first professional game. You step into the batters box, dig in, and, just before you’re about to hit your first professional ball, a 95mph heater smacks you right in the face.! Well, that was Pugh’s start of his professional career earlier this month for the GCL Mets. Pugh was operated on earlier this month and is now recovering. He should begin working out again in the next couple of weeks and we should see him back in the GCL Mets lineup by the end of the month.
8-14-10 -I talked earlier today to OF Tillman Pugh and was happy to find out that he has returned to the GCL Mets roster. You may remember his first game as a Met (June 21) when he took a fast ball right off his face. Those who saw it live thought he was dead, and those that saw him the next day understood why Pugh wished he was dead. He was a mess, but the 15th round pick this year told me he feels fine and his face looks totally healed.
9-1-10: - My thoughts: Very nice person and, according to my sources, a VERY intelligent ballplayer. You can't really judge him on what he did this past season, so the assumption is he could wind up back with the GCL team; however, that team is the new home for most of the visa-kids and late round draftees from the 2011 sraft. My guess.... Kingsport.
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