It would've been nice for Jonathan Stiever to dominate the Carolina Mudcats on the same day that James Fegan was writing an extensive account of Stiever's rise. Alas, Stiever got a little off his game after three perfect innings and had to settle for five innings and a win.
Nevertheless, it seems like Sox coaches have developed somebody worth following with the Dash:
It’s a seemingly old story at this point to hear about a professional pitcher being instructed to ride his four-seamer and suddenly dominating (Low-A left-hander Taylor Varnell told a similar story this weekend in Kannapolis. But it was new to Stiever, who like so many young pitchers, still came up being taught to command his heater at the knees as much as possible.
While his first day of catch was filled with drills to straighten out his delivery, Stiever’s first bullpen in Winston-Salem featured Zaleski making him throw his four-seamer up in the zone. He saw what it looked like when he threw a hard, low-80s, spike curveball behind it that started on the same plane, and showed steeper 12-6 movement when he threw it harder.
By all accounts — and from looking at the numbers — Stiever got the idea pretty quickly.
Pensacola 10, Birmingham 1
- Ti'Quan Forbes went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Blake Rutherford was 0-for-2 with two walks.
- Gavin Sheets went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Luis Gonzalez was 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout
- Laz Rivera, 0-for-3 with a K.
- Blake Battenfield: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 1 HBP
- Alec Hansen: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 23 of 43 pitches for strikes.
- Tyler Johnson: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Winston-Salem 7, Carolina 5
- Steele Walker doubled, singled, walked twice and hit a sac fly.
- Andrew Vaughn went 0-for-2 with a walk, strikeout and sac fly.
- Carlos Perez went 0-for-2 with two walks.
- Jonathan Stiever: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 1 WP, 1 HBP
AZL Padres2 6, AZL White Sox 0
- Samil Polanco went 1-for-4 with a triple and a strikeout.
- Josue Guerrero had the other hit, going 1-for-2 with a walk.
- Bryce Bush went 0-for-2 in his first rehab appearance.
- Anthony Coronado replaced him, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout.
- Jose Rodriguez, 0-for-4 with a K.
- DJ Gladney, 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Bryan Ramos, 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
- Sidney Pimentel, 0-for-3 with a K.
- Misael Gonzalez, 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Manny Bañuelos had the latest ugly rehab outing: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Lexington 5, Kannapolis 1
- Romy Gonzalez and Corey Zangari wore matching collars and silver sombreros.
- Lenyn Sosa went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Camilo Quintero went 0-for-4 with a K.
