Hunter Dobbins shines again for Sea Dogs
Making his third start in AA, Hunter Dobbins once again was the shining star of the game. During his Portland Sea Dogs debut on June 23rd Dobbins impressed, allowing just 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 5. A rising prospect in the system, Dobbins tied his highest strikeout total of the season.
Dobbins tallied 10 strikeouts while walking just 2 batters and allowing 1 run on 4 hits. While his fastball sits around 94-95 mph, he was able to ramp it up to 96 mph when using it to punch out batters. On top of the heater, he also used a curveball and slider to make a few batters look silly on strike three.
Take a peek at some of Dobbins's strikeouts.
After a walk and base knock in the first inning, the right-hander was able to dial in and allow just 2 base runners over the next 3 innings. Come the 5th, a solo home run ended up being the only damage he allowed. In the 6th inning, Dobbins was let off the hook thanks to reliever Jacob Webb getting a strikeout with 2 outs and bases loaded.
Thanks to an offensive outburst in the fourth inning, Dobbins was able to get the win. His second win at the level, it was a good bounce-back start for the 23-year-old. Last week he surrendered 3 runs and 9 base runners total in 5.1 innings pitched, which ended up a losing effort.
The consistent command will be the name of the game for Dobbins, using the fastball to get ahead and his breaking pitches to finish off batters later in the count. Along with the command, working deeper into games should be a goal of Dobbins. Yet to reach 6 innings pitched, he could’ve avoided being lifted before the innings end.
The command withered as he got deeper into the start, though he was still able to get results with it. While he was able to get by with it against arguably the weakest offense in the Eastern League, the Binghampton Rumble Ponies, would that have been the case against the higher competition?
Dobbins has a chance to be the ace of the Sea Dogs staff. Given the promotion of Brian Van Belle to Worcester and fellow starters CJ-Liu and Sterling Sharpe scuffling in their recent appearances, the door is open for Dobbins to shine.
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