Is he, though? His K/9 and BB/9 still aren't anything to write home about and show very little improvement in comparison to last year. Seems like the low ERA is a product of an unsustainably low BABIP and a high strand rate.Ball has pitched well this season so far in high A Salem. Here's a video of parts of one of his May starts. Nice to see he's progressing.
Like so many 21-year olds before him, it appears Ball is getting some extra play from a slutter this year.While yes his BABIP is down significantly and is unsustainable, his GB% went from 37.3% to 55.8% while his FB% dropped from 42.3% to 19.5%, which I suspect is a driving factor behind his huge drop in HR/9 and SLG%. Could it just be luck? Sure, it's still quite a small sample size. That doesn't mean there isn't some progress there, though.
I was at that game on Thursday. Though admittedly I was distracted since it was $1 beer night and there were a bunch of college girls in the outfield bar.At the Salem/Winston-Salem game this evening...
Thanks for the update. Any indication how hard he was throwing?At the Salem/Winston-Salem game this evening, Ball's first 2 or three innings were supremely unimpressive -- 4 walks, baserunners all over the place, and Drive hitters launching rockets. He was saved by excellent defense from Dubon and Devers and a couple of double plays, but he was a mess.
That said (and I am NOT a Ball fan) he held it together and settled down to get through seven surrendering only two runs (albeit with something like 13 baserunners). Not a great outing by any means, and I'm not at all confident he ever makes it out of Portland, but I'll give him points for poise.
He's filling out too. Not a skinny little teenager anymore.
Unfortunately the in-stadium radar gum wasn't working. All I can offer is that he was throwing harder than the Dash starter, but the Dash weren't really having any problem barreling him up.Thanks for the update. Any indication how hard he was throwing?
Remember, he only has 280 IP in the minors and before that he only threw 48 IP as a high school senior. It's going to take him a while to figure out how to repeat his delivery.
Just saw that he used to throw a knuckleball in high school so he always has that to fall back on . . .
You belittle Sox Prospects as an amateur-driven site when discussing Swihart, while using Over the Monster as an informed source for this post.An interesting piece arguing that Ball should be switched to hitter:
http://www.overthemonster.com/2016/7/5/12096342/red-sox-trey-ball-prospect-hitting-pitching
At this point of his development, it might make the most sense to play Ball everyday as a hitter while allowing him to pitch every 4th or 5th day in a relief role. If his stuff plays up as a reliever, that might be his best path to the major leagues.