Neither of the young pitchers trying to crack the Braves’ starting rotation made a strong case on Friday.
At the same time Mike Foltynewicz was laboring to get out of the first inning against the Tigers at Victory Field, left-hander Manny Banuelos was doing the same with the other split squad at Port St. Lucie on Friday.
Banuelos shrugged off the bad outing but, after talking with pitching coach Roger McDowell, said he does plan to make some changes.
“I’m a little bit bad with my mechanics,” Banuelos said. “My arm feels very good. But I just didn’t have that feeling I could control the ball. Changeup, breaking ball (is) good but it’s not consistent. That’s a thing I have got to work on, too.”
Banuelos recorded just two outs against the Mets before departing. The Mets got to him for five runs with two extra-base hits and Banuelos also issued two walks.
Banuelos said he could tell when he took the mound he didn’t have control of his pitches
“It was a bad feeling,” he said. “My stuff was not there. It was one of those days where you have that feeling you can’t control the ball. It was bad in my hand. Just one of those bad days.”
In his first spring start Banuelos gave up two runs (one earned) in one inning against the Mets.
In January the Braves sent right-hander David Carpenter and lefty Chasen Shreve to the Yankees in exchange for Banuelos, 24. He once was New York’s top-rated prospect but missed the 2013 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Banuelos played at high Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A in 2014 while posting a 4.13 ERA in 76 1/3 innings.
Banuelos and Foltynewicz are vying for two opening day rotation slots along with veteran left-handers Eric Stults and Wandy Rodriguez.
