Ky Bush wasn't exactly in top form when the White Sox acquired him alongside Edgar Quero from the Los Angeles Angels for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López. Groin and oblique issues delayed the start of his season until June, and he'd experienced wild swings in performances over the course of six starts with the Rocket City Trash Pandas.
Since joining the Birmingham Barons, it'd been a more consistent form of mediocrity, but he was able to end his season on a high note with five scoreless innings against the Chattanooga Lookouts.
When I was in Birmingham last weekend, I asked Barons pitching coach Danny Farquhar about Bush, and whether he and the Sox had specific ideas for him, or whether they were just letting him pitch his way back from injury."
"We've been working a lot with him," Farquhar said. "We've moved him to the other side of the rubber. We're working on his back leg, on being able to sit on his load a little bit longer, and what that does is it lengthens out the stride a little bit, helps them get down the mound, have more stability in that lead leg and be able to use it for more power.
"He's been very receptive on all the drills we're putting him through, and very receptive on all the stuff we're teaching him. From the point we got him to where he's at now, he's a significantly better pitcher in my opinion."
You can indeed see the difference in his setup since joining the Barons, pulling a screen shot from a start against Rocket City for the same center-field camera offset:
As for whether he's a better pitcher, the results don't yet bear that out ...
- Rocket City: 26 IP, 23 H, 6 HR, 14 BB, 33 K, 5.88 ERA
- Birmingham: 41.2 IP, 48 H, 10 HR, 22 BB, 36 K, 6.70 ERA
... but it's probably worth waiting for a full, healthy offseason and spring training before further judgment.
Charlotte 8, Nashville 2
- José Rodríguez went 2-for-5 with his first two Triple-A homers.
- Oscar Colás was 0-for-1 with three walks.
- Adam Hackenberg, 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Yoelqui Céspedes was 2-for-4.
- Garrett Crochet: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Highlights:
*Rodríguez's first homer:
*And his second:
Birmingham 7, Chattanooga 4
- Terrell Tatum went 0-for-3 with a walk, strikeout and stolen base.
- Colson Montgomery, 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Alsander Womack was 1-for-3 with a homer and a walk.
- Wilfred Veras went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Tim Elko maxed out his 1-for-4 with a grand slam, also striking out twice.
- Ky Bush: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 35 of 59 pitches for strikes.
- Jared Kelley: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
