Matt Barnes’s struggles from the end of the 2021 season have rolled into spring training.
The Red Sox reliever has struggled to reach his usual velocity in the 2022 exhibition season. Through four spring outings, Barnes’s fastball has traveled at 92-93 mph speeds. That’s noticeably down from last season when his fastball speed average was 95.8 mph.
After Barnes gave up a run on two hits in the Red Sox’ 7-2 loss to the Pirates on Saturday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters Sunday that they think they found the mechanical issue that’s caused Barnes’s velocity to go down.