Last night my daughter and I headed over to Security Service Field to catch the latest Rockies acquisition Denny Bautista pitch for the Sky Sox against the Albuquerque Isotopes. I had seen Bautista pitch in spring training and was impressed with his dominance in the first three innings of that start in March. Obviously things haven't gone so well for him since as he posted a 5.66 ERA with the Royals in 35 innings walking 17 and faring even worse with the Omaha Royals posting a 7.36 ERA while walking 32 in 44 innings.
Well, last night it looked as if things would follow this same trend as he walked the first two hitters. After that though, his breaking ball came alive and he struck out the next three. In six rain interrupted innings (we left in the bottom of the 6th after waiting out to delays already as rain started coming down again) he didn't surrender any runs, gave up three hits, struck out nine and walked four. It was an impressive outing as his fastball consistently topped 94, with his hard slider around 82 or 83 and leaving Isotope hitters helpless much of the night. With such a live arm one would hope he can harness that control and if so become at least a serviceable part of the Rockies bullpen.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Bautista Impresses
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2 comments:
I was at the same game. What I liked was that there were some tough conditions with the rain and Bautista didn't always have top command, but he kept his composure and battled out of some tough spots.
Excellent. I forgot to mention that he clearly was having trouble with his footing in the first inning which may have contributed to the early wildness.
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