Price’s AAA Debut

80 pitches, 50 strikes in four innings, allowing 3 runs, 7 hits, no walks, 6 Ks as he suffered his first defeat as a professional. He hit 96 on the board a few times and did show off his entire arsenal.

He’s not ready for prime time yet. Couple of things that concerned me:

1. Pitch selection. He didn’t mix his pitches very well. He threw sliders and changeups almost exclusively to right-handed hitters - I didn’t see a fastball until the third inning - and threw about 90% fastballs to lefties. I would want to see him spot his fastball more to righties and mix in the change to lefties.

2. Movement on his pitches. Last night, there wasn’t much. Some of the outs were hit solidly, as was the ball that Joel Guzman booted at 3B leading to two runs (although subsequent events made both runs earned). Of his six Ks, four were against lefty swingers Freddie Bynum and Brandon Fahey, neither of whom is exactly a terrific threat with the lumber.

Mechanically, he is very sound - and he is a bulldog. After Guzman kicked the ball that probably would have been a DP grounder, Price gave up a single to Oscar Salazar that reloaded the bases with no one out, but battled back to strikeout Bynum and give up a soft fly ball to Chris Heintz which turned into an inning-ending DP, as Gary Allenson sent Eider Torres to challenge Jonny Gomes’s arm - bad choice.

I hope (and expect) that he’ll be around for a couple more starts at AAA; the Bulls come back on the 23rd and he would be in line to start the opener against Indianapolis if he sticks around.