Boston Red Sox: Checking in on the bullpen
By Ryan Sanders
Matt Barnes
Matt Barnes has been the best reliever (arguably the best pitcher) for the Red Sox so far, accumulating nearly half a win in five innings so far. Its how he is doing it that should have fans clamoring for more.
Barnes currently is bringing the heat. His fastball is averaging a blistering 96.2 MPH that ranks in the 95th percentile in all of baseball. That same pitch also has incredible spin, ranking in the 83rd percentile and allowing Barnes to be lethal up in the zone.
The other calling card for Barnes has been his breaking ball that he’s thrown nearly 60% of the time. His heat map for his curve ball is a thing of beauty, throwing one version down and away to right handers for a strike, then breaking one off that is out of the zone and hitters have little chance of doing anything with. This nasty mix of pitches has given hitters all kinds of problems so far evidenced by Barnes facing 20 hitters so far, striking out 10 of them and has yet to issue a free pass or give up a home run.
He may not be the first Matt Barnes to pop up on google, but Red Sox faithful should be thanking Barnes for being the stabilizing force in a bullpen that has given up 27 runs so far.