Homer Bailey

[EKURed]

Looks like he's off to a flying start at Chattanooga....per Lance's blog.

"Thursday, June 22, 2006
Home Bailey spins a gem
AA debut tonight
6 innings......5 hits....0 runs....0 walks....7 k's
Fastball hitting 95-96
Curveball 76

Matt Beslile pithes 1 inning in relief, 1 h, 2k's
posted by lance1360homer at 8:53 PM"

[reds44]

http://www.redszone.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1035569#post1035569
http://www.redszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47670

[savafan]

I read the thread title, and I was intrigued and simply had to open this one. :p:

[redsmetz]

Here's the story from the Chattanooga Times Free Press:


Bailey gets off to fast AA start
By David Paschall Staff Writer

Homer Bailey will tote the same earned run average into his second Double-A start as he did his first.

The top prospect of the Cincinnati Reds made an immediate home Thursday night at BellSouth Park, pitching six scoreless innings and leading the Chattanooga Lookouts to a 7-0 rout of Carolina. His Class AA debut in front of 2,461 fans included seven strikeouts and no walks.

"I think I did all right, but our defense, more than anything, played outstanding," Bailey said. "We had three plays at the plate and two more at third, which were clutch plays. I wasn’t nervous. As long as the plate was 60 feet, I knew it was still the game of baseball."

The 20-year-old right-hander’s fastball was as advertised, reaching 95 and 96 mph on firstinning third strikes. His 96th and final pitch was clocked at 98 by charting Lookouts pitchers and on BellSouth’s speedpitch board in left-center.

"These guys don’t come around a lot, and it’s nice to have one in our organization," Lookouts pitching coach Bill Moloney said. "Hopefully he can keep going with it. He still looked fresh at the end."

Said Bailey: "I’ve always been the type of pitcher that feels better in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings or even the seventh if I get that chance. I can’t explain it. It’s just how I’ve always done it."

Lookouts manager Jayhawk Owens credited Bailey for studying Carolina from the stands since arriving Monday from the high Single-A Florida State League. Owens added that the 6-foot-4, 205-pounder kept his off-speed pitches very low.

Catcher Patrick Arlis had two of Carolina’s five hits off Bailey, launching a double over Rick Asadoorian’s head in center in the third inning and another double off the right-field wall in the fifth.

"He just kind of fell behind me in my first at-bat and left the pitch over the plate," Arlis said. "In the second at-bat, he threw me a first-pitch curveball, and I got on top of it and drove it to right. He was throwing the ball hard and was real on top of the ball at a dominant angle, so he’ll be deceiving for a lot of guys.

"He’s got good stuff. He’s just got to locate."

The Lookouts (3-1) gave Bailey the lead when Noochie Varner’s first-inning single to right scored Javon Moran, who led with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch. In the third, Miguel Perez’s one-out sacrifice to left scored Javier Colina to make it 2-0. Chattanooga loaded the bases in the fifth and picked up its third run on a fielder’schoice RBI by Asadoorian, who blew the game open two innings later with a triple to right-center that scored Perez and Ryan Hanigan.

Carlos Guevara replaced Bailey and recorded two strikeouts in the seventh, as did Matt Belisle in the eighth. Belisle, the Reds middle reliever, worked his second rehab assignment and will now move on to Triple-A Louisville.

[RollyInRaleigh]

Not bad for a guy that isn't an "elite prospect."

[steig]

If he pitches well at AA then I hope they bring him up for september to be used in a limited role.

[westofyou]

Open Questions: 2004 first-round pick Homer Bailey has two no-hit outings, has allowed fewer then two runs in six of 13 starts at High Class A Sarasota, yet has also given up four or more runs six times. With that kind of inconsistency, why rush him with a promotion to Double-A? Can the team resist the urge to also push Bruce and lefthander Travis Wood?

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5232

[rah-ri]

ok so if they moved Hendley back to Sarasota as a closer, does that mean they still have a starting pitcher position to fill in Sarasota? Any ideas?

[dougdirt]

Lecure
Vazquez
Paduch
Avery
???

[edabbs44]

Lecure
Vazquez
Paduch
Avery
???
Hammond

[Doc. Scott]

Lecure
Vazquez
Paduch
Avery
???

Ramon Ramirez has made one start. And he pitched pretty well, too.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/R/ramon-ramirez.shtml

This page is screwed up and appears to be combining two Ramon Ramirezs, but our guy pitched well at Billings in 2004 and passably in Dayton in 2005. He hadn't done much in 2006 until recently due to injuries (assumption).

[dougdirt]

Ramon Ramirez actually was one of the guys busted for some sort of drug test failure.

[tbball10]

ZACH WARD or Carlos Fisher

[NewEraReds]

If he pitches well at AA then I hope they bring him up for september to be used in a limited role.
i sure as BLANK dont

[NewEraReds]

Homer needs to work on his control and his secondary pitches, if he gets both those down over the next year, i could see him up sometime after the break next year. he wont get away, no matter how hard he throws, with fastballs down the middle and no secondary pitches. he has them, just, not the greatest yet. but you cant ignore 98 in the 6th :)

[paulrichjr]

Tracy Jones was harping tonight about how he should be brought up after 3 more AA starts. Don't you wish he was the GM?:D

[rah-ri]

hmmm I wonder when they are going to bring someone up?

[Hoosier Red]

i sure as BLANK dont

Just curious, if he is brought up in September to be used as a mop up guy, or maybe not even ever pitch, what's the harm.
I think it's a great way to reward a guy for an impressive season and get him used to how things work in the big league level.

Not saying I want him taking the hill every fifth day, or at anytime this season, but bringing him up to be part of the team doesn't have a whole lot of downside to me.

[Slider]

It starts his free agency clock. Arbitration sooner, larger dollar amounts sooner, free agency sooner.

One month doesn't sound like much...but if you bring him up in September this year and after the break next year...you've likely accelerated the clock enough to have an impact.

I wouldn't bring Homer up till he was ready to pitch regularly.