Blue Jays’ pitching prospect Brandon Barriera pitched four no-hit innings in his professional debut
7 months ago
Well, that’s what you expect from a first-round pick.
Brandon Barriera is a 19-year-old left-handed pitcher drafted with the 23rd overall pick in 2022. After a long and anticipated wait for his debut, he finally made it on Wednesday evening. Let’s look at some of the stats from his professional debut.
The first batter he faced grounded out on a 3-1 count. Next up, he got his first professional strikeout with an 85.6 mph slider. The next batter also suffered the same fate, swinging and missing on an 85.4 mph slider.
In the second inning, he walked the first batter of four pitches, which happened to be the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels runner granted by the first rounder. However, that runner was erased by Sammy Hernandez, one of the youngest players in the Florida State League (who hit his second career homer in this game.) The next batter grounded out, before Barriera struck out Dylan Neuse on an 81.1 mph slider.
In his third inning of work, he generated a flyout and a groundout, before striking out Dillon Tatum on a 95.8 mph fastball. His final outing featured his fifth strikeout on a 94 mph fastball, as well as the sixth strikeout of the outing on an 80 mph slider, before another groundout.
Overall, his line of 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K was fantastic for a professional debut.. He threw 49 pitches (with a pitch limit of 60), 30 of which were strikes.
His fastball averaged 93.5 mph, but touched 95.8 mph and had a max spin rate of 2511 RPM (average of 2380 RPM). It also generated two swings and misses on 11 total swings, and 28 total pitches.
His slider was his most impressive pitch, averaging 83.2 mph and touching 85.8 mph. That’s not all though, out of the 11 total swings, he generated seven whiffs. This could be because it had an average spin rate of 2964 RPM, and averaged 2771 RPM (which is fantastic.)
He only threw his changeup four times, three for balls and one for a called strike.
It was a fantastic debut for the 19-year-old, and hopefully he can have a Ricky Tiedemann-esque ascent up the minors.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @Brennan_L_D.
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