Last night's 6 inning, 3-hit, 1 walk, 12-strikeout performance against Carolina pushed Gio's season line versus the AA club to 11 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, and 21 strikeouts. Part of that is because Carolina leads the Southern League in strikeouts and about the only thing keeping them out of the cellar in other offensive categories is the Barons' offense, but in today's Baseball America Prospects blog, Chris Kline paints a different picture than a guy with dominating stuff embarrassing a weak minor league lineup.
"Hitters just gave in to him. His breaking ball is tough to pick up, partly because of the deception, partly because you think there's just no way it's in the zone coming out of his hand. But another big part of that is how fast he works. The breaking ball will freeze you and the fastball just gets on guys. As a hitter, you have to do what you can to take him out of his pace. Once he gets going like he did here, it's over."