at Frisco. 7 IP, 6H, 1ER, 2BB, 6Ks. Hooks defeat the Frisco bunch 10-3.
Lyles is very poised and looks older than his 19 years. His velocity was 90-94 on the FB. He threw alot of breaking pitches including a CB in the upper 70s that got at least 3 strikeouts for him on swing-and-misses. I liked that he looked as strong in the 7th as the first inning on a warm, muggy day. Threw 105 pitches so very efficient and threw alot of ground balls including two double-plays. Frisco got six hits off of him but quite a few were opposite field soft liners. In fact, I only remember one ball really squared up against him all day and that was Teagarden's screaming liner over Steele's head for an RBI double and the only blemish on Lyles. (Teagarden had all 3 Frisco RBIs....interesting note that today's catchers were Teagarden and Towles who both started the year in MLB). The only thing I saw to downgrade Lyles today was control. He got behind alot of hitters and wasn't throwing the FB for strikes as often as may be preferred. He did have at least three pitches he threw alot today with the FB, curve and a slider in the low-mid 80s. If he had a change, I couldn't tell it from the CB at my angle.
CC roughed up Frisco starter Casey Kiker, a former 1st round draftee, but Kiker was his own worst enemy with five walks. Shuck had a big day and I like his game. He's been compared to Bret Butler and I think that makes some sense. He slapped the ball a couple of times to the opposite field for hits, one a double, and drove one into the Left-Center field gap for a Triple. He also laid down a pretty bunt down the third base line in which he was just out. He was bunting for a hit, not sacrifice. In my opinion he is closer to the MLs than Steele or Gaston.
Henry Villar pitched the 8th and his line today doesn't look good but I really like what I saw in him. Very live arm, 94 on the FB and a slider he threw a few times. He looks like a guy that could pitch quite a while in the big leagues and probably soon.
