The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Barnes still looking for consistency
BOSTON — Matt Barnes didn’t throw a single pitch in the Red Sox 54 victory over Kansas City on Thursday afternoon. But it’s a game he’ll likely never forget.
“It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever been a part of in pro ball,” Barnes said after the Sox took all of 12 minutes to finish a suspended game that had started two weeks earlier. “But it’s awesome. You get to write it down as a win, and we get to go out to the West Coast and hopefully continue it.”
A crazy win in a somewhat crazy season for both the Red Sox, who have won six of their last eight entering a threegame set in San Diego beginning Friday, and for Barnes. The Bethel product and former UConn star leads all American League relievers with 16.13 strikeouts per nine innings and a K rate of 40.2 percent, and is second in strikeouts overall (86).
Yet the hardthrowing righthander’s overall numbers (34, 4.50 ERA) don’t necessarily jump off the page. In fact, it’s been a remarkably up and down season for Barnes. He started off great, with a 2.21 ERA through April and May, struggled mightily in June (9.69 ERA), didn’t give up a single run in 10 outings in July, and has struggled again (8.44 ERA) in August.
“I’ve gone through some great stretches and gone through some rough patches,” he said. “I’m trying to be as consistent as possible. I just have to work on some stuff in terms of sequencing and things like that. I feel like my stuff has been pretty consistent. My velocity has been, for the most part, good all year. I’ve just been thrown in some bad situa
tions where I wasn’t executing or was sequencing pitches incorrectly. When you play in this division, this league, where guys crush stuff, you’ve got to be on top of it all the time.”
Barnes, a firstround pick by the Sox in 2011, is one of numerous recent UConn stars who have gone on to shine in the majors, a list that includes George Springer, Nick Ahmed and Scott Oberg, and should add a few new names in the coming years.
“The talent they’ve produced over the last 10 years has been awesome — a bunch of firstrounders, guys succeeding in pro ball,” Barnes said. “They’re getting to the College World Series, Regionals, Super Regionals, winning conferences. I think it’s a testament to what Coach ( Jim) Penders and the rest of the coaching staff there is able to do in recruiting guys and making them better and turning them into really quality players.”
Indeed, Barnes, who’s currently in his sixth season in Boston, gives Penders and his staff “a ton” of credit for his own individual success.
“I came in as a skinny freshman, not throwing terribly hard, not really a clue what to do,” he confessed. “They kind of showed me the way and helped transform me into the pitcher and the person I am today.”
Barnes lives in Florida, but he and his wife, Chelsea, bought a home in Newtown a few years ago, and he tries to get there on offdays throughout the season whenever he can.
UConn announced on Wednesday that it will hold its annual baseball alumni game on Sunday, Sept. 22 at Dunkin’ Donuts Park, home of the Yard Goats.
“Probably won’t be able to make that one,” Barnes said with a smile.
No, he’ll still be in the midst of a season that, he hopes, continues into the playoffs. The defending world champions improved to 6861 with Thursday’s win, still 6 1⁄2 games out of the second wildcard spot and a whopping 15 1⁄2 games behind the AL Eastleading Yankees.
But there’s still more than a month left in the season, and Barnes and his teammates aren’t giving up hope.
“We’ve got an incredibly talented team, and we know we’re capable of winning,” he said. “This thing is far from over.”