Baseball fans across North America are taking notice of Orioles strikeout artist Erik Bedard. (Jerry Lai/Associated Press)

An excited Aubrey Huff signed a three-year, free-agent contract with the Baltimore Orioles last January and then told the media how “it’s a nice chapter in my life coming here to a storied franchise … that has a lot of history.”

What the former Tampa Bay Devil Ray infielder/outfielder failed to mention was how thrilled he was that he no longer would have to step into the batter’s box against Orioles left-handed pitcher Erik Bedard of Navan, Ont.

Baltimore’s emerging ace held Huff to six singles in 26 at-bats for a .231 average from 2004 through the 2006 Major League Baseball season.

“I didn’t enjoy facing him,” Huff told CBCSports.ca during a recent visit to Toronto. “He would come in on me [inside pitch] all day and I couldn’t get around on him [with the bat] – and I’m a fastball hitter.

“Every time I faced him in Tampa he was dominant. People didn’t know much about him [in 2004] but they’re starting to figure him out now.”

Bedard, 28, has been more dominant than ever this season, which has many baseball observers touting him as a favourite to win the Cy Young Award as the top pitcher in the American League.

Bedard, who only two years ago posted the second of back-to-back six-win seasons with Baltimore, is now being mentioned among the AL’s elite, a group of hurlers that includes Johan Santana, Josh Beckett, Dan Haren, John Lackey and C.C. Sabathia.

No Canadian has ever won the AL Cy Young. Montreal’s Eric Gagne accomplished the feat in 2004 when he closed games for the National League’s Los Angeles Dodgers. Former Chicago Cubs righty Ferguson Jenkins of Chatham, Ont., was the 1971 NL Cy Young recipient.

Mike Cuellar, Jim Palmer, Mike Flanagan and Steve Stone won the award for Baltimore between 1969 and 1980.

Bedard told reporters in Toronto he hasn’t given the award much thought this season “because I could have a bad month [of September] and everyone will stop thinking about it. It would be a great honour but I’ll think more about it at the end of the season.”

Bedard is making a late-season charge for the Cy Young, having won nine of his last 10 decisions.

Breaks Orioles’ strikeout mark

Through Aug. 27, he led the AL in batting average against (.212); was second in WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) at 1.09; and tied for fourth in earned-run average (3.16). Bedard also led the majors with 221 strikeouts, surpassing Mike Mussina (218) for the Orioles’ single-season record.

Bedard said the difference from last season when he posted 15 wins and a 3.76 ERA in 33 starts, is consistency.

“I’m throwing more strikes and you gain more confidence as the years go by,” said Bedard, who had ligament-replacement (Tommy John) surgery in September 2002. “Strikeouts just come. I don’t try to strike out everybody. I try to get them out early [in the at-bat].”

Bedard has been consistent since he arrived at spring training this season, where he recorded a 1.96 ERA in six starts and struck out 24 in 23 innings pitched.

Bedard can throw four different types of fastballs, according to Orioles pitching coach Leo Mazzone. (Jerry Lai/Associated Press)

In the regular season, he hasn’t lost two starts in a row and has lasted at least six innings in all but two outings since the beginning of May.

He has reached double digits in strikeouts on seven occasions, including four times in August, and fanned a season-high 15 against the Texas Rangers on July 7.

Former Oriole and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer told MLB.com recently that Bedard’s stuff is so electric that even when he isn’t seeking a strikeout, batters are going to strike out.

“That’s what happens when you can throw to both sides of the plate and throw a curveball at any time,” Palmer added. “It’s not just an ordinary get-me-over curveball.”

But Bedard isn’t your ordinary major league pitcher.

Baltimore pitching coach Leo Mazzone describes the six-foot-one southpaw as low maintenance and consistent with his routines and practices.

Four variations of fastball

“He competes, he’s consistent and I think he has a little killer instinct in him,” Mazzone told CBCSports.ca.

Bedard has four variations of his fastball, according to Mazzone. Not bad considering most pitchers don’t have three or four pitches they can throw with any regularity and/or consistency.

“He has a power fastball,” Mazzone said. “He can sink it, cut it, go down with it or throw a comebacker. I’ve seen him do two or three of those on a consistent basis.

“He also has a great breaking ball and his changeup just keeps getting better. All I’ve ever tried to get him to do is throw his changeup down and away a little more.”

Backup catcher Paul Bako, who joined the Orioles as a free agent last December, is also working with Bedard on his changeup.

“I would like to see him throw it earlier in the count and early in games to decrease his pitch count,” said Bako, who caught Bedard for most of the first half of the season with starting catcher Ramon Hernandez sidelined by injury.

“But he can miss with a pitch and he still makes the out. It’s a lot of fun to catch him.”

Signed through this season, Bako hopes to stay on with the Orioles and continue his work with Bedard, who isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2009 campaign.

Baltimore management will attempt to sign Bedard to a long-term contract extension this winter after talks went nowhere last year.

“I like it here,” he told the Baltimore Sun earlier this month. “Right now, this is the most fun and the best team I’ve played on. Even when we lose, we still have fun.”

Bedard could soon be having more fun if he brings the first AL Cy Young award home to Canada.