Uehara is making his 3rd Major League start today, and his first in Boston.
The crowd, and the Red Sox team would intimidate a lot of pitchers making their first apperance in the Fenway setting.
However, with all of Uehara’s professional experience, you would expect that to be tempered some-what.
I see Uehara as a guy with a lot of pride… I expect after the beating he took in Texas, that we will see a guy that battles hard today in Beantown.
Still, the reality is that despite Uehara’s 2-0 record, he has allowed 12 hits, 8 er, 5 walks, 2 homers, with just 3 k’s in his first 10 innings of work.
Opposing batters have a .902 OPS against him, and Uehara has a Grounder to Fly ratio of 0.52.
I believe today will prove to be very interesting, and important for Uehara’s 2009 season.
What I will mostly be looking for, is Uehara’s control… he has conistently worked from behind in the count, in his first two starts… and I have not decided if I believe he is intentionally throwing out of the zone out… or if it is more of a matter of adjusting to the different size baseball, and strikezone of MLB.
Uehara has about 200 walks in 1,500 professional innings…. so any semblance of a lack of control, is a tell-tale sign for concern.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.