2011 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #30 Scott Barnes

Scott Barnes – Left-handed Pitcher
Born: 09/05/1987 – Height: 6’4” – Weight: 185 – Bats: Left – Throws: Left

(Photo: Ken Carr)

History: Barnes was an 8th round pick in the 2008 Draft out of St. John’s University by the San Francisco Giants. The Indians acquired him from the Giants in a trade for Ryan Garko in July of 2009. He ranked 7th in the Eastern League in losses (11), 8th in games started (26), 9th in hit batters (9), 6th in strikeouts (127), and 13th in WHIP (1.33). He pitched well in the Arizona Fall League last fall going 4-1 with a 3.65 ERA in seven starts (24.2 IP, 23 H, 0 HR, 7 BB, 28 K).

Strengths: Barnes has a nice frame to handle the workload of a starting pitcher and has tons of athleticism. He has a deceptive fastball that sits at 89-92 MPH that has touched 94 MPH, and complements it with a changeup and slider. He is not afraid to go after hitters with his fastball and throws it with a lot of conviction, which makes it hard to see out of his hand. It is sneaky fast and explodes through the zone with some good, late life. He does a good job of commanding his fastball down in the zone to both sides of the plate to both left-handed and right-handed hitters, and is not afraid to pitch inside to both.

His changeup is his best pitch and is a plus offering that he has confidence throwing in any count. His curveball was shelved midseason in favor of a slider because the Indians felt it would complement his fastball better and help him get left-handers out more consistently. It is still a work in progress but the slider gives him a pitch to better attack left-handed hitters since it is more deceptive and has later break than his curveball which should keep lefties off balance a little more and result in poorer swings on it. His curveball is no longer being used, but is still a pitch he can keep in his back pocket for later use.

Barnes commands all three of his pitches well and fills the zone up with strikes. He likes to work fast, and his athleticism allows him to repeat his delivery well and change the speed of his pitches well. He is a grinder on the mound who has a boxer's mentality where he just keeps coming after hitters. He is one of the most confident and competitive pitchers in the organization with a no fear approach to pitching. He is an emotional pitcher who has an edge to him on the mound and is very focused. He is very coachable.

Barnes really struggled in April (4 starts, 8.80 ERA) and May (5 starts, 6.56 ERA), but from June 1st until the end of last season he made 17 starts and had a solid 4.35 ERA. His improvement over the second half of the season was a result of him settling back into his old form, but also from a few changes that he and Double-A Akron pitching coach Greg Hibbard made with his repertoire and mental approach. He is ultra-competitive and his early season troubles were getting the best of him as he let his emotions show, so in the second half he was able to control his emotions better and stay on an even keel. He also had some trouble adapting to a minor change implemented to his delivery early in the year where he was moved from his comfortable spot on the far right side of the rubber to the middle of the rubber. The subtle change took awhile to adjust to and his fastball command was noticeably off in the early going as a result.

Opportunities: Barnes did not have his customary late sink down in the zone last year, and his slider was a little side to side and his changeup was a little up to his arm side. He has a tendency to work underneath his pitches a little bit which resulted in his fastball command being a little bit more up in the zone, so he has to get better working behind the ball in order to get better two-seam sink. He also needs work on his separation and balance as when he gathers in over the rubber he tends to drift or get off line with his direction. His effort level is very important to his development as when it gets too high his delivery gets a little bit away from him. As a very intense, emotional pitcher it can be helpful at times but often will work against him when things are not going well, so while he has shown some strides in maintaining his effort level and composure he still has more work to do in this area. His walks were up and his strikeouts were down last year, so he needs to be more efficient with his delivery and pitches and his fastball command needs refining.

Outlook: It was a disappointing season overall for Barnes last year as so much more was expected of him. Even still, the Indians have a long history with him as they scouted him prior to the 2008 Draft, and they believe he still has potential as a major league starter. He struggled with his performance at Akron last year some because he just did not pitch well, but also because he was making several changes to solidify his pitch mix and delivery, and by the end of the season and in the Arizona Fall League he looked to be back on track and pitching well. Due to depth in the system, he will open the 2011 season in the starting rotation at Akron again, though should see time at some point at Triple-A Columbus.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2008	20	AZL Giants	R	0	1	3.38	3	0	5.1	3	2	0	4	11	.167	6.8	18.6	1.31
2008	20	Salem-Keizer	A-	0	0	4.76	2	1	5.2	6	3	0	1	11	.250	1.6	17.5	1.24
2008	20	Augusta	A	3	2	1.38	6	6	32.2	15	5	0	7	41	.133	1.9	11.3	0.67
2009	21	San Jose	A+	12	3	2.85	18	18	98.0	82	31	7	29	99	.227	2.7	9.1	1.13
2009	21	Kinston	A+	0	0	2.13	3	3	12.2	14	3	1	6	10	.280	4.3	7.1	1.58
2009	21	Akron	AA	2	2	5.68	6	6	31.2	35	20	7	14	29	.292	4.0	8.2	1.55
2010	22	Akron	AA	6	11	5.22	26	26	138.0	126	80	15	58	127	.241	3.8	8.3	1.33
		MiLB Totals		23	19	4.00	64	60	324.0	281	144	30	119	328	.233	3.3	9.1	1.24

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