BUTLER TWP— Jake Cuffman wasn't exactly hurting for game action this season.

What the Butler graduate and minor league pitcher yearns for is repetition.

"That's how you get better and iron out your problems," Cuffman said. "This was a very strange season for me."

Now 23, Cuffman completed his sixth year in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system, spending the entire 2008 campaign with Class ALynchburg.

He wound up third in the Carolina League with 49 appearances, compiling a 1-2 record with a 5.23 earned run average, 41 strikeouts and 47 walks in 53Z\c innings.

"It's the same old story with me,"Cuffman said. "I still haven't had my big numbers season. I'm just waiting for things to click.

"It's not like I've been wild all over the place. I'm barely missing the plate with certain pitches, maybe not getting the (umpire's) call here and there. That's all it is."

Not all of Cuffman's numbers were negative. He allowed 51 hits — fewer than one per inning — and right-handed hitters batted just .214 against him.

Left-handed batters hit him at a .313 clip, however.

"I can't explain that disparity, except for the fact that I haven't faced that many left-handed hitters,"Cuffman said. "That's what I mean by repetition.

"I believe I need to pitch more to get better results."

Cuffman, the only pitcher in the Pirates farm system to stay with Lynchburg for the entire season, inherited 44 runners when he came into pitch this year.

No other Hillcats pitcher inherited more than 22 runners all season.

"A lot of pitchers would struggle being brought into situations like I was,"Cuffman said. "I got used to it after a while."

Cuffman enters this offseason unsure of where he stands with the Pirates. He will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft next spring if the club doesn't protect him on its major league, Class AAAor Class AA roster.

He will not be pitching in fall or winter ball.

"We're expecting a baby boy in a month,"Cuffman said. "After a seven-month baseball season, the best place for me is home."

While hoping the Pirates remain his home.

"(Cuffman) has a nice arm. If a kid does well at Class A, he's got a chance," Pirates minor league instructor and longtime major league coach Rich Donnelly said. "From there, it's up to him."

After the Pirates restructured their organization following the 2007 season, Cuffman said the coaches in the organization who liked him "are no longer here."

Most of the top players at Class AAAltoona this season — first baseman Jason Delaney, left fielder Jonel Pacheco, second baseman Melvin Dorta and pitcher Juan Mateo — are 26.

"Time is still on my side,"Cuffman said.

Numbers can mean little in the lower minor league levels. Daniel Moskos, the Pirates' top draft choice from 2007, was 7-7 with a 5.95 ERAat Lynchburg this season.

"People always want to look at numbers," Cuffman said. "The only number I'm concerned about is walks. If I can cut my walks in half, I'll probably move up.

"(The Pirates) probably like me because I kept getting the ball this year. But when other guys keep moving around in the system and you're staying put, you wonder what they're thinking about you."

Whether with the Pirates or another organization, the 6-foot-4, 204-pound right-hander is confident he'll have a job next year.

"I'll be in baseball somewhere," Cuffman said. "My body and my arm will dictate that."