LYNCHBURG, Va. — Since signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates five years ago, pitcher Jake Cuffman has been yearning for the baseball.

Now he's getting it more often than anybody in the Carolina League.

The Butler graduate, a relief pitcher for Class ALynchburg, leads the circuit with 25 appearances. The Hillcats have played 57 games thus far.

"He's pitching in a lot of different roles down there," said Kyle Stark, the Pirates' director of player development. "Bullpens at the Class A level aren't used the way they are in the major leagues. There aren't many defined roles.

"Jake has been used in the fourth, fifth or sixth inning as a bridge to another reliever. He's been used in late innings. He's been used to get a certain hitter out in a given situation.

"He's a durable guy who can be used often and is more effective when being used frequently,"Stark said.

Cuffman, 23, is 1-0 with a 3.90 earned run average this season. His ERAwas 2.92 until a recent bad outing.

But those have been few and far between for Cuffman this spring. He has 23 strikeouts in 27X\c innings and has allowed 24 hits. Batters are hitting only .231 against him.

The down side? He's allowed 25 walks.

"Honestly, the walks don't bother me right now,"Cuffman said. "My velocity is up. My fastball is between 90 and 95 (mph) and my slider has been 84 to 87. My fastball used to be 88 to 93, my slider in the low 80s.

At 6-foot-4, 204 pounds, Cuffman is viewed by the Pirates as a hard-throwing relief pitcher.

"It's not a question of his stuff, it's about throwing it over the plate," Stark said. "His stuff moves so much that it's a legitimate challenge for him. But Jake's comfortable enough right now to embrace that challenge."

Cuffman threw only 18 innings last season. He threw 56Z\c frames in 2006, his most in a season of pro ball. He appeared in 35 games in 2006, also a personal high.

Both of those marks are likely to fall this season.

"Jake's overcome some things in his career,"Stark said. "We've worked hard with him to get him to this point. He's in a good spot right now.

"What he does the rest of this season will determine where he goes."

Cuffman's next step in the Pirates organization is Class AAAltoona.

It might be closer to home, but he's in no hurry to get there.

"I don't want to go to Altoona until I'm ready to go, and I don't feel like I'm ready right now,"Cuffman said. "I still have things to iron out here and I'm in the perfect place to do that.

"I want to get to Pittsburgh as badly as anybody, but I'm in no rush. It's all about maturity with me. I'm mature enough to handle the workload now, whereas I don't think I was two or three years ago."

Cuffman struck out Matt Wieters, a highly-touted catcher whom the Baltimore Orioles drafted in the first round and paid $6 million, two weeks ago.

Lynchburg recently had a change in pitching coaches as former big leaguer Bob Milacki left for personal reasons and was replaced by 29-year-old Mike Steele, a former Michigan State University coach.

"It's difficult when that happens because you're dealing with different philosophies,"Cuffman said.

The coaches have been working on a slide-step delivery with Cuffman, trying to enhance his quickness to the plate.

"From the time you lift your leg and deliver to the plate, the time is supposed to take 1.3 or 1.4 seconds,"Cuffman said. "I'd been taking 1.6. That's too slow.

"I'm being groomed to enter games with runners on base. When runners see the slide-step, they shut down. I need to be able to do that."

So far, Cuffman said the Pirates' new regime has been good for his career.

"(General manager)Neal Huntington talked about changing the culture of the organization and they're doing that,"he said. "Everyone's accountable for what he does and the instruction is more individual-based. I love that."