Boston Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes is the author of 35 pitching performances throughout the 2017 campaign. Any baseball fan who only witnessed Barnes’ 11-pitch, three-strikeout, and eighth-inning domination in Monday’s 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins would question the veracity of any claims of erratic and inconsistent pitching from Barnes; after all, said hurler possesses a affluence of “stuff” that was on full exhibition that night.
Barnes appears to relish his symbolic role as the “box of chocolates” to which Forrest Gump legendarily equates “life”: upon entering the game, “you never know what you’re gonna get.