It's been a rough year for Red Sox starting pitching prospect Matt Barnes. The 2011 first-round pick (19th overall) is 4-6 with a 5.22 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and .284 opponents' batting average in 17 starts for Double-A Portland.
Barnes has had only one outstanding month in 2013, when he went 2-0 with a 2.65 ERA in six May starts. Otherwise, he went 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA in four April starts, 1-3 with a 6.86 ERA in five June starts and is 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA in two July starts.
One of the few bright spots for Barnes this year has been his strikeout-to-walk ratio. He has struck out 88 batters and walked 28 in 70 2/3 innings. Barnes is considered a top-100 prospect by MLB.com (No. 38) and Baseball America (No. 40).