FREDERICK — When Orioles minor league left-hander Tanner Scott took the mound for the Double-A Bowie Baysox on Thursday night at Reading as a starting pitcher, it was part of an early-season plan to get the hard-throwing reliever into a better routine to repeat his delivery and work on his slider in longer outings.

It’s a plan that has worked so well that the team is already talking about just how long before it looks toward the end goal — making Scott an impactful major league reliever.

Orioles director of player development Brian Graham said Monday that “it’ll be at some point this year” when Scott resumes a normal bullpen role with an eye toward moving him up to Triple-A Norfolk or even the major league roster. Graham said he and major league pitching coach Roger McDowell laid it out.

“Roger McDowell and I had a conversation about it [Sunday], as a matter of fact, about Tanner and the projection of him going to the big leagues and how long he needs to go to be a straight bullpen guy, 15 pitches warmup then come in the game, before we feel comfortable that he’s ready to do that,” Graham said. “The pitch development, the bullpen session in between every fifth day starting for three innings has been a huge, huge factor. The bullpen day has been a huge factor. He’s done great work in the bullpen, and he gets himself on track timing-wise and mechanically, where he needs to be. It’s been a very good, well-executed plan.”

The plan, which involves Scott making three-inning starts every fifth game with a bullpen day in between to work on his delivery and hone his breaking ball, has worked well according to evaluators in the organization and external ones. Graham said it has been “a great project, and Scott has made tremendous strides.

One American League scout said Scott was the best pitcher he has seen all season in the minors, with a present 75 grade and a future 80 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale on his fastball, which he had averaging 98 mph and topping out at 100 mph in that look. He said the slider could be a future 70 pitch as well, and said his command has improved with both.

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