8/14 MiLB Gameday: Double Doubleheaders

[Cuzittt]

Today's Games:

IL:Pawtucket (Matt Barnes) @ Gwinnett (Kanekoa Texeira) [6:35pm]
EL: Portland (Luis Diaz/Justin Haley) vs. Akron (Will Roberts/Cody Anderson) [12:05pm]
CL:Salem (Simon Mercedes/Heri Quevedo) @ Potomac (Brian Rauh/Pedro Encarnacion) [5:05pm]
SAL: Greenville (Ty Buttrey) @ Savannah (Logan Taylor) [7:05pm]
NYPL: Lowell (Kevin McAvoy) @ Brooklyn (TBD) [7:05pm]
GCL: GCL Sox @ GCL Orioles [12:00pm]
DSL: DSL Sox @ DSL Reds [10:30am]

Notes:

Scoreboard:

Boston Red Sox Minor League Scores

Media:

MiLB TV
MiLB Radio

Local Media:

Pawsox:

Providence Journal
Pawtucket Times

Seadogs: Portland Press Herald

Salem: Roanoke Times

Greenville: Greenville Online

Lowell: Lowell Sun

 

[Cuzittt]

Playoff Updates:

Red - Currently in Playoffs, Green - Still in Chase, Blue - Dead
 
Pawtucket - (70-55) - 1 GB of Syracuse for IL North. 2 GA of Rochester for Wild Card Spot. 4 of the 5 best records in IL are in the North Division (including top 3).
 
Portland - (75-48) - 2 1/2 GA of Binghamton for EL East Title. 15 GA of New Britian for EL East Wildcard. Could Clinch Playoff spot this week.
 
Salem - (22-25 2nd Half) 1 GB of Carolina for Playoff Spot (Myrtle Beach is 4 1/2 GA of Salem for Division Title but also won First Half).
 
Greenville - (18-35 2nd Half) - Officially eliminated from playoff contention.
 
Lowell - (28-30) - 10 1/2 GB of Tri-City for Stedler Division. 2 1/2 GB of Connecticut/Brooklyn for Wild Card.
 
GCL Sox (28-18) - 2 1/2 GA of Rays for GCL South Division Title
 
DSL Sox (44-18) - 4 GA of Giants for BC South Division Title. 1/2 GA of Tigers for Bye into Semifinals for Playoffs.

 

[Apisith]

Hoping for another good outing for Barnes, it was looking like a lost season for him until the last few starts.

 

[mabrowndog]

Hoping for another good outing for Barnes, it was looking like a lost season for him until the last few starts.

 
First 15 games: 5.06 ERA, .297/.366/.422/.788, 1.84 K/BB
 
Last 4 games: 2.22 ERA, .134/.234/.220/.454, 2.20 K/BB
 
One other thing to note is his BABIP: From .349 for most of the season to .167 in that latest quartet of outings. I'm inclined to believe most of the former was him being hit hard, but a good chunk of the latter has to be batted-ball luck and not just poor quality of contact.
 
In the end, as a starter who lacks both late FB life and a well-developed 3rd pitch, it's all about command for him.

 

[Shore Thing]

 
First 15 games: 5.06 ERA, .297/.366/.422/.788, 1.84 K/BB
 
Last 4 games: 2.22 ERA, .134/.234/.220/.454, 2.20 K/BB
 
One other thing to note is his BABIP: From .349 for most of the season to .167 in that latest quartet of outings. I'm inclined to believe most of the former was him being hit hard, but a good chunk of the latter has to be batted-ball luck and not just poor quality of contact.
 
In the end, as a starter who lacks both late FB life and a well-developed 3rd pitch, it's all about command for him.

Would also be nice to know what has changed in terms of the defense playing behind him (especially given the promotions of plus defenders such as Marrero, Mookie, etc,).

 

[semsox]

 
In the end, as a starter who lacks both late FB life and a well-developed 3rd pitch, it's all about command for him.

 
This does not seem to jive with what I remember, as I thought Barnes was supposed to have the best swing-and-miss fastball of all of the upper tier pitching prospects?

 

[jscola85]

Yeah didn't someone recently rate his fastball as the best in the Sox system?

 

[jscola85]

Whatever the case, the good run continues as he's pitched 6 shutout innings so far, with just 5 hits, no walks and 3 Ks.  Travis Shaw dinger (he needed a good day after a rough August so far) has the PawSox up 4-1.

 

[semsox]

That HR for Shaw quietly puts him at 21 HR's between Portland/Pawtucket on the year

 

[Cuzittt]

GCL Sox down 2-0 after 3 1/2 innings. Game suspended by rain. To be completed 8/25.

 

[Cuzittt]

Seadogs lose game 1, 4-2.
 
Boxscore
 
Luis Diaz went 5 2/3 innings, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits (1 HR), 3 walks and a WP; striking out 6. Wilfredo Boscan went 1 1/3 innings, walking one, throwing a WP and striking out one.
 
Mike Miller, Jonathan Rood and Keury de la Cruz each went 2/3; de la Cruz with a HR, Miller with a CS. Carson Blair went 1/3 with a triple. Shannon Wilkerson, Michael Almanzar, David Chester, Stefan Welch and Kevin Heller each went 0/3.

 

[Cuzittt]

Seadogs lose game 2, 1-0.
 
Boxscore
 
Justin Haley went 6 1/3 innings, allowing a run on 6 hits (1 HR) and 5 walks; striking out 3. Aaron Kurcz went 2/3rds of an inning, walking one and striking out one.
 
Keury de la Cruz went 1/2 with a walk. Shannon Wilkerson, Michael Almanzar, Ryan Dent and Kevin Heller each went 1/3. Heiker Meneses went 0/2. Michael Brenly, Stefan Welch and Jonathan Rood each went 0/3.

 

[Cuzittt]

Salem wins game 1, 2-1.
 
Boxscore
 
Simon Mercedes went 6 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 walks; striking out 3. Matty Ott went an inning, allowing a run on 2 hits.
 
Reed Gragnani went 2/3 with a double. Matty Johnson and Mario Martinez each went 1/3; Johnson with a CS. Jose Vinicio went 0/2. Dreily Guerrero went 0/1 after replacing Aneury Tavarez who went 0/2. Carlos Asuaje, Jantzen Witte, Jake Romanski and Kendrick Perkins each went 0/3; Witte with a SB.

 

[Cuzittt]

Pawsox win 5-1.
 
Boxscore
 
Matt Barnes went 8 innings, allowing a run on 7 hits; striking out 3. Brayan Villarreal went an inning, striking out one.
 
Travis Shaw went 2/4 with a HR. Mookie Betts went 2/5. Bryce Brentz went 1/3 with a walk. Deven Marrero went 0/1 after replacing Justin Henry who went 1/3. Alex Hassan went 1/4 with a HR and a walk. Garin Cecchini and Derrik Gibson each went 1/4; Cecchini with a double. Ryan Lavarnway went 0/3 with a walk. Mike McCoy went 0/4.

 

[Cuzittt]

Drive lose 4-0.
 
Boxscore
 
Ty Buttrey went 6 innings, giving up 2 hits and 3 walks; striking out 6. Myles Smith went 2 innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits, a WP and a walk; striking out 2.
 
Kevin Mager and Tim Roberson each went 1/3; Roberson with a double. Manuel Margot and Wendell Rijo each went 1/4. Jimmy Rider went 0/3 with a walk. Sam Travis, Franklin Guzman, Danny Bethea and Hector Lorenzana each went 0/3.

 

[Cuzittt]

Spinners lose 5-1.
 
Boxscore
 
Jeffry Fernandez went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits, 4 walks, a HBP and a WP; striking out one. Rob Smorol went 3 1/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits (1 HR) and a walk; striking out 4.
 
Raymel Flores went 2/3. Joseph Monge and Mauricio Dubon each went 2/4; Dubon with a CS. Nick Moore went 1/2 after replacing Cisco Tellez who went 0/2. Danny Mars went 1/4. Jordan Procyshen went 0/2 with 2 walks. Bryan Hudson, Aneudis Peralta, and Alixon Suarez each went 0/4.

 

[Cuzittt]

Salem wins 3-1.
 
Boxscore

Heri Quevedo went 5 innings, allowing an unearned run on 5 hits, 2 walks and a Balk; striking out 7. Madison Younginer went 2 innings, walking one and striking out 2.

Mario Martinez went 2/4 with a double. Carlos Asuaje went 1/3 with a walk. Kendrick Perkins, Leonel Escobar and Dreily Guerrero each went 1/3; Perkins with a HR. Matty Johnson went 1/4. Reed Gragnani went 0/2 with 2 walks and a SB. Jantzen Witte went 0/3 with a walk. Jose Vinicio went 0/1 after replacing Matt Gedman who went 0/2.

 

[Cuzittt]

DSL Sox win 13-7.

Boxscore

Shair Lucrus went 5 innings, allowing an unearned run on 4 hits; striking out 2. Juan Perez went 1 1/3 innings, allowing 4 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks; striking out 4. Marcos Lantigua went 1 2/3 innings, allowing an unearned run on 2 hits; striking out one. Darwinzon Hernandez went an inning, allowing an unearned run on a hit; striking out 2.

Luis Yovera went 4/5 with a double. Juan Hernandez went 3/6. Rafael Toribio went 2/2 after replacing Luis Alejandro Basabe who went 2/3 with a double, triple and a walk. Luis Benoit went 1/2 with a double after replacing Carlos Tovar who went 2/3 with a walk and a SB. Roldani Baldwin went 2/5 with a triple and a walk. Jose Lozada went 2/6. Raiwinson Lameda went 1/4 with a walk and a SF. Pablo Urena went 1/6. Jesus Perez went 0/5 with a HBP.

 

[mabrowndog]

This does not seem to jive with what I remember, as I thought Barnes was supposed to have the best swing-and-miss fastball of all of the upper tier pitching prospects?

 

Yeah didn't someone recently rate his fastball as the best in the Sox system?

 
"His fastball lacks late life" does not mean "his fastball sucks". It means it lacks that little change of direction, such as armside or gloveside lateral run, in its final 10-15 feet of travel. Barnes does indeed have a strong swing-and-miss heater-- when he commands it by putting it where he wants it. But it only tends to have late motion when he keeps it down in the zone and generates a little vertical dip at the tail end as well as *some* armside run. When he leaves his pitches above the belt, that motion isn't nearly as prevalent and the ball straightens out.
 
As he's progressed through the minors, his fastball has gotten him where he is because he's been able to use it to get ahead of minor league hitters early. That will prove much more challenging in the majors, where batters are much harder to beat with FBs when they're used as both primary set-up and out pitches -- even when commanded well. In addition, like any pitcher as they progress through games and tire out, there's a greater tendency to leave fastballs up in the later innings. If Barnes remains fastball-dependent, he'll get his ass handed to him by MLB hitters when he can't keep the ball down.
 
That's why the development of his curveball has long been seen as the bellwether of his career path. That third pitch will be a necessity for long-term success as an MLB starter. He simply won't be able to do it with the fastball and changeup alone, no matter how hard he throws the former.