“Oh, yeah, absolutely,’’ said Barnes, who received a $1.5 million signing bonus. “The Red Sox have a great organization and I’m very fortunate to be in this organization.

“It helps that as I move up the ladder, I kind of get closer to home, so it’s nice to be able to stay on the East Coast and, hopefully, get to the Northeast soon. That way I’ll be closer to my family and they’ll be able to come and watch.’’

With his promotion, Barnes is closer.

“It’s only like an 8-9-hour drive down [to Salem, Va.] instead of 12 or 13 [to Greenville, S.C.],’’ said Barnes.

After Barnes threw 121 innings his junior season at UConn (11-5, 1.93 ERA), the Red Sox took a measured approach in his development, sending him to short-season Lowell to begin a throwing program and then to the Instructional League to get him accustomed to a five-day pitching routine.

“They took some precautions and rightfully so,’’ Barnes said. “I threw a lot of innings at UConn my junior year, so they wanted to take it easy and get me into the flow of things and get me into their program, and I’ve seen some improvements across the board so I can’t complain with the way they did things.’’

Barnes said he made strides in his approach, “just being more consistent, mechanically, and with my command as well, just being more effective with my secondary [pitches].’’

He is scheduled to make his first start for Salem Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“There’s always going to be challenges, and if you don’t challenge yourself, you’re never going to get better,’’ Barnes said. “So I’m excited to see how it goes on Saturday and see the difference in the level of talent and competition.’’

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