Pinstripe Preview: Johnny Barbato
In
a bullpen battle that will feature an open competition to fill a few spots,
young righty Johnny Barbato should be in that mix. Barbato made the opening day
roster in 2016 after pitching to a very impressive 1.64 ERA in 11 appearances
last spring. However, Barbato faced struggles getting big league hitters out
resulting in him spending the majority of 2016 in Triple-A. With several
pitchers vying for one or two spots in the bullpen, Barbato could put himself
in that mix with another strong spring.
 |
| Photo Credit: Tony Gutierrez | AP |
Barbato
started hot in the month of April in 2016. He pitched his way to a 2.53 ERA in
eight appearances before allowing four earned runs in 0.1 innings on April 30
in Boston. Barbato's struggles continued resulting in his demotion in May, but
he made the most of his demotion, before being called back up for one final
appearance in August.
Barbato
would go 3-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 31 appearances with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
RailRiders. He held opposing hitters to a .213 clip against him. Barbato has a
career 1.84 ERA in Triple-A, so if he can continue mowing hitters down, he
should force his way to the big leagues this year.
2017
Outlook
Barbato
projects as a guy who could be a solid middle-inning reliever in the big
leagues, especially with the current state of the dominant Yankee bullpen. He's
a hard-thrower with a fastball in the mid-upper 90's, and he has good movement
on both his slider and his curveball. He gets a lot of swings and misses but
has a tendency to leave balls up which is where he runs into trouble. I look
for Barbato to continue developing in Triple-A this year, and potentially
becoming a member of the infamous “Scranton-Shuttle” before being called up in
September. However, it is possible Barbato gets removed from the 40-man roster
in light of the Chris Carter signing, so that is something to look out for.
Article
by: Chad Raines
Follow @chad_rainFollow @BronxBomberBlog
Comments
Post a Comment