BRADENTON, Fla. — Some new faces are evaluating Jake Cuffman this spring.

That could result in a fresh opportunity for the former Butler High right-hander, a 14th-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2003.

Brian Graham, senior director of player development, and minor league pitching coordinator Gary Ruby, who were entrenched in those positions through Cuffman's five years in the organization, are gone. Both fell victim to the new management team's off-season purge of minor league and scouting personnel.

"I feel like I want to be loyal to those guys, but I think this change is good,"Cuffman said. "I arrived in camp early so the new people could get a feel for who I am.

"Each player (in the farm system) had a chance to sit down with the new guys in charge and find out what's expected of us, what we need to do to move through the system."

Kyle Stark is the Pirates' new director of player development while Troy Buckley is the new minor league pitching coordinator.

The Pirates minor leaguers will begin live game action next week. Cuffman, 23, has thrown three bullpen sessions and pitched batting practice so far this spring.

He anticipates remaining in the bullpen and starting the season at high Class ALynchburg, where he tossed a scoreless inning with one strikeout to close out a rough 2007 campaign.

Before that, Cuffman was 1-1 with a 6.52 earned run average in five appearances covering 9X\c innings at State College, along with an 0-0 record, 24.55 ERA, seven strikeouts and 14 walks in 7Z\c innings at Hickory.

Ray Searage, who was Class AAAltoona's pitching coach, worked with Cuffman for a few weeks before Cuffman was sent to Lynchburg late last season. Searage is pitching coach at Class AAAIndianapolis this year.

"He fixed my problems,"Cuffman insisted. "I'd been working with eight different pitching coaches over the past three years, telling me to try this, try that. I didn't know what was going on.

"Ray sat me down and said we're gonna do this and only this. He brought me back to basics, really."

At 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, Cuffman has a lanky frame. His fastball is in the low 90s and he throws a slider in the mid-80s.

"As long as I can do that, I'll have a job in baseball," he said. "The organization knows I have a big-league arm and they won't give up on it."

In 146X\c innings in the minor leagues, Cuffman has 140 strikeouts and 110 walks.

"Basically, I'm averaging six walks per nine innings," he said. "If I can cut that number in half, I'd like to see what kind of pitcher I'd be."

So would the Pirates.

Unlike a lot of young pitchers in the system, Cuffman never had the opportunity to build innings by being a starter.

"They put me in the bullpen right away because I threw hard and they saw that as my quickest route to the major leagues,"Cuffman said. "But I lost some development time as a result.

"I relish pitching out of the bullpen, though. Every day could be a new opportunity to prove something."

Cuffman is looking at the entire 2008 season that way.

"My arm feels great," he said. "They've told most of the other pitchers what team they'll be starting out with this year, but they haven't told me. They're waiting to see what I show on the mound down here."