Graham, Merullo and Bundy on Bundy

So the Dylan Bundy rehab at short-season Single-A Aberdeen is going rather well. Fans at Ripken Stadium last night got to see that first-hand. Bundy fanned nine over five scoreless innings against Brooklyn, touching 93 and 94 mph with his fastball. In two Aberdeen outings, he has given up just seven hits and one run over 10 innings with one walk and 15 strikeouts. So far, so good. But before last night's game, O's director of player development Brian Graham reminded reporters that this is still a process and Bundy is still not even to the anniversary date of his Tommmy John surgery, which was last June 27. "It is. This season is a rehab process," Graham said. "We need to be patient and get him back on track the right way. Need to get him ready to be a productive part of this system come next spring. Whatever he does this year is a rehab process. Depending how fast he comes will determine where he finishes this year. "Velocity plays a part, but command is more important at this point and the health status is obviously the most important." Aberdeen manager Matt Merullo felt Bundy might have actually been a tick better in his first start than he was last night, but both have been pretty strong. "I thought he was a little bit crisper, I guess is the word, the first time out," Merullo said. "But he punched out nine guys. Again he was dominant, but there were a couple of curveballs he might not have had the same feel for. But we're cutting hairs here. "He seemed a little bit more comfortable last time out. He may have felt a little bit of pressure tonight with a bunch of people here. Had a bunch people here from our front office (including Dan Duquette) and it was a hectic day at the ballpark. Like a big league opener with all the activity around here today." Bundy said there are no concerns about his velocity right now and he's been told it does take over a year to get that all back. For now, he's not grading himself too harshly, but that will change soon. "I take the rehab assignment as a rehab progression and after that then I feel like I'm just another minor leaguer or big leaguer, whatever happens happens," he said. "Once the rehab part is done, it's time to compete in the minor leagues and earn a (major league) spot if it's available." Bundy said one way he gauges his progress right now is if he's tired or sore at the end of his outings and he has not been so far. "Happy with the whole rehab progression. It's working out well so far," he said. No can predict a potential date when he could become an option to help the Orioles in the big leagues at this point. Certainly not Bundy himself. "No, not at all really," he said. "Think I have one or two more outings here, not sure what they have planned yet. Then either High-A or Double-A and go from there." Bundy showed some of his old dominance at times in last night's outing. His sense of humor is sharp as well. We saw that when he talked about the quality of one of his pitches. "Well, I threw a 42-foot curveball," he said, laughing. "That was definitely pretty good. I really tried to throw that one harder and bury it. I did bury it, but usually you want that in the dirt and not in the grass." Bundy could laugh about that one. He's smiling again and throwing his pitches by hitters. It is likely that he'll have one more Aberdeen outing and then the Orioles will evaluate his next step.