Pat Light

[Marbleheader]

  
 
 
Full Name: Patrick Light
Born: 03/29/1991
Birthplace: Colts Neck, NJ
College: Monmouth
Height: 6' 5"
Weight: 195
Bats: R
Throws: R
 
Red Sox 1st round pick of 2012 Draft
 
Twitter:  @Pat_Light
 
Ranked No. 18 among Red Sox prospects by MLB.com entering the 2013 season. ... Selected by the Boston Red Sox in the first round (37th overall) of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Monmouth University. ... Was the highest Draft pick in school history. ... Set single-season school records as a junior in 2012 with a Northeast Conference-leading 102 strikeouts and 101 1/3 innings pitched. ... Was named 2012 New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association Pitcher of the Year as well as a third team Louisville Slugger All-American and first team All-Conference. ... Was selected to the 2011 Northeast Conference All-Tournament Team and 2010 NJCBA All-Rookie squad.
 
 

Light was ranked No. 53 in Baseball America's preseason list of the Top 100 2012 draft prospects. And why the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association tapped him as Pitcher of the Year. And why, in early May, he was named to the Golden Spikes Award watch list; the award is college baseball's Heisman, given to the best player in the game. Recent winners include Washington's Stephen Strasburg and San Francisco's Tim Lincecum.
 
 
Like those two, Light can bring the heat. His four-seam fastball has been clocked as high as 99 mph, and he supplements it with a solid slider that breaks down and away to righties, and a split-change that hovers in the upper 70s. Four of Light's 14 starts this season resulted in complete games, and he's shown he can manage that velocity for the long haul. "He knows to pace himself," says one scout. "He's very smart. He'll hang around the low 90s, and every now and then come back with a 96 or 97 just to say, 'Hey guys, I have it; I'm just not going to burn myself out.'"

- ESPN Article
 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5pmA4Ghw88

 

[Marbleheader]

Light had a decent season with Lowell last year, but is struggling in Greenville so far.
 
[tablegrid= Pat ight ]Year Team League W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO GO/AO AVG 2012 LOW NYP 0 2 2.37 12 12 0 0 0 30.1 27 9 8 1 5 30 1.16 .243 2012 Minors   0 2 2.37 12 12 0 0 0 30.1 27 9 8 1 5 30 1.16 .243 2013 GVL SAL 1 3 8.28 7 6 0 0 0 25.0 37 27 23 4 13 24 1.27 .336 2013 Minors   1 3 8.28 7 6 0 0 0 25.0 37 27 23 4 13 24 1.27 .336 [/tablegrid] 
 
Tonight he left the game in the first after one batter. Given his struggles over the past two starts (5 and 8 ER), he may have been battling something .

 

[SoxScout]

Right-hander Pat Light left the game after facing just one batter due to hamstring cramping.

http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2013/05/23/red-sox-minor-league-roundup-christian-vazquez-puts-on-a-show-pat-light-gets-injured-kolbrin-vitek-gets-versatile/

 

[Marbleheader]

“I don’t know when I’ll be back on the mound, I hope it’ll be this year.”  “It’ not really up to me.” -Pat Light

 

[Marbleheader]

Pat Light got off to a great start to the new season in Greenville. He struck out 10 while giving up one run over 6 innings. His fastball was between 94-97 mph. Good sign after a rough year.

 

[Manzivino]

Promoted to Salem per SoxProspects. Light in Greenville this year: 3 starts, 17.1 IP, 4.15 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 19 K, 4 BB, .231/.271/.354 opponent's line.

 

[mabrowndog]

Light continues to be an enigma, but it's been 3 months since his promotion and maybe we're finally seeing something. Today's line: 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 K in a 7-1 Salem win over Myrtle Beach.
 
The solo HR he gave up in the 4th today was his first since a 3-HR game on June 19 -- more than 36 innings ago. This was his 5th start in his last 6 where he's allowed one earned run or less (the outlier was July 17, with 5 ER on 8 H & 3 BB). And even with that poor outing, he's logged a 2.06 ERA and held opposing batters to a .219/.300/.297/.597 line over his last 35 innings. This after a 6.88 ERA and .327/.376/.493/.869 line in his first 12 high-A games.
 
However his strikeout numbers have continued to underwhelm since stepping up a level. His walk rate in 18 starts for Salem (29 in 86.1 IP, or 3.0) is only slightly above that of his 28 lower-level outings as a pro (25 in 82 IP, or 2.74). But his K rate in high-A (4.1 per 9 IP overall, and 4.11 over his last 6 GS) is less than half of what it was at the R, SS and A- levels (8.8 per 9 IP).

 

[The Gray Eagle]

Interesting comments on Light today in Alex Speier's daily email 108 stitches:
 
"Righthander Pat Light, a 2012 first-rounder who struggled with health in 2013 and featured some uneven performance (even as he stayed healthy all year) in 2014, has been sitting at times this spring at 95-97 mph and touching 99 mph as a starter.
 
“I’ve never been above, like, 93 in spring training in my life,” beamed Light.
 
He had a velocity breakthrough near the end of the 2014 season for High A Salem, at a time when he was trying to work through the end-of-season fatigue that resulted from a jump of nearly 100 innings from his injury-riddled 2013 campaign to 2014. Prior to his penultimate start of the year, he had a revelation while loosening.
 
“That day, I really wanted to get my arm loose. I used less legs in the outfield. I just kept going further back, and all of a sudden, I was in center field and just using my arm. I got extension. It really taught me how to use my arm a little bit better,” said Light. “That day, I was 97-100. It was like, ‘Oh, geez – where’d this come from?’ It taught me a little bit more about how to get more out of my arms and how to complement that with using my legs.”
 
For a power pitcher, his minor league strikeout numbers have been low (he’s pitched largely to groundball contact), but the bump in velocity along with the reincorporation of a split-change that he used as his college out pitch could change that outlook. Thus far this spring, he’s remained in the rotation, but there is some feeling among team officials that Light – likely ticketed for Double A Portland to start the year – could get on a fast track if he’s moved to the bullpen."

 

[radsoxfan]

Sounds like by the end of the year he is either in the Red Sox bullpen or having Tommy John surgery. 

 

[The Gray Eagle]

Another 108 stitches update on Light:
"The Red Sox have made the decision to have righthander Pat Light — a 2012 supplemental first-round pick — move to the bullpen. Light can touch triple digits with a fastball that he leverages down for groundballs, and with the addition of the split change that he used in college, the Sox are hopeful that he can become an impact arm in the late innings."
 
He also pitched for the Red Sox as a reliever in the last preseason game. Looks like they are hoping he can move up over the course of the season. Not a bad idea, since he is 24 now and will be starting the season in AA. He might be a nice out-of-the-blue power-arm bullpen option for the Red Sox in September if he puts it together in this new role. 

 

[Marbleheader]

After a rough outing to start the year in Portland , Light threw 2 innings giving up 1 hit with 4Ks yesterday.

 

[Marbleheader]

Another good outing this weekend, 2 innings, 1 hit, 3ks.

 

[Marbleheader]

Step backwards, 3ER in 3 IP with just 2 Ks

 

[The Gray Eagle]

Another blurb from Speier, this time in the Glob's minor league notebook:
 
"A year ago, in two levels of Single A, Pat Light averaged 5.2 strikeouts per nine innings. This year, after a move to the bullpen, he’s more than doubled that rate to 11.0 with Double A Portland. Crockett said that Light’s fastball velocity has been largely the same as it was as a starter — around 94 m.p.h., topping out at 97-98 — but the pitch “is playing very differently than it did previously.” That improvement is a product of some mechanical tweaks he’s made to improve his direction to the plate and generate some deception, as well as the reintroduction of a splitter that Light used as an out pitch in college. The result has been a spike in Light’s swing-and-miss rate, and the early signs of a potential impact reliever."

 

[Plympton91]

Step backwards, 3ER in 3 IP with just 2 Ks

I noted in the game thread that this broke down as coming in to get the third out of the 5th inning with runners on base, then pitching two more perfect innings, before being asked to go out for a fourth time on the day. In that fourth inning of work, he gave up all three runs. So, if you're thinking about his transition to a reliever, the 2-1/3 perfect innings are still a very good sign.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

The HR are alarming but sss. If you look at his previous usage, it's like he was always a MR. His k numbers in 2014 is the outlier. Light is probably our number 1 bullpen prospect if you exclude Matt Barnes.

 

[Marbleheader]

Light got his first AA win, pitching out of an inherited jam in the 9th and finished out the 10th. He has now given up just 1 ER since 4/22 with 13K/3BB.

 

[radiohix]

The HR are alarming but sss. If you look at his previous usage, it's like he was always a MR. His k numbers in 2014 is the outlier. Light is probably our number 1 bullpen prospect if you exclude Matt Barnes.

That's a 23.1% HR/FB...That's not sustainable.

 

[Marbleheader]

Light hasn't allowed a run in his last 9 appearances. Lefties batting. 200, righties just. 131. He's lowered his season ERA to 2.36.

 

[Corsi]

Alex Speier ‏@alexspeier  3s3 seconds ago
Sources: Red Sox promoting RHP Pat Light to Pawtucket. Dominant in move to bullpen this year: 32 K, .168 BAA in 29.2 IP for Portland.

 

[Marbleheader]

Since coming up to Pawtucket, Light is 0-1 6.75 ERA, 5K/4BB

 

[Marbleheader]

After a brutal start in Pawtucket , since July 10, Light has a 2.67 ERA with 15K/5BB in his last 10.1 innings.

 

[Wake's knuckle]

Suddenly struck me, when looking at his picture in the first post, that he kind of looks like Beeker
 

 

[jscola85]

After a brutal start in Pawtucket , since July 10, Light has a 2.67 ERA with 15K/5BB in his last 10.1 innings.

 
Good to see the results are stabilizing a bit - still way too wild right now to succeed at the MLB level, but if he can get those walks under control next, he's an interesting piece for 2016.

 

[Marbleheader]

Welcome to the show, Pat. Command was one of Farrell's concerns out of ST, but that's basically everyone on this staff anyway.