Rangers’ Tony Barnette aces spring benchmark in intrasquad outing

Rangers reliever Tony Barnette hit an important milestone Friday morning. He threw multiple innings for the first time this spring in a minor league intrasquad game. By all accounts, he aced the test.

Barnette struck out five of the six batters he faced, allowing no hits and walking none. He threw 27 pitches (21 strikes).

The big test, however, is how his arm feels Saturday morning, he said. Barnette, 33, had a 2.09 ERA in 60 1/3 innings in 2016, his rookie season.

“It’s about building up to the point where when the season rolls around I’ll know what to expect out of my body,” he said “It was a positive day. My first couple of throws were stiff on the way back out which is kind of normal. But I was able to rebound and got right back on my pitches.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2017 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Rangers’ Tony Barnette aces spring benchmark in intrasquad outing."