June 28 minor league notes

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The farm report

The Reds have signed all of their top 10 June draft picks, five of whom are pitchers and 25 of their top 30.

Outfielder Drew Stubbs, the club's No. 1 pick is hitting .269 in seven games with Class A Billings and endured a tough night Monday, striking out four times.

Danny Guerrero, 20, not one of the Reds' 50 draft picks, was 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in two starts at Billings and was promoted to Class A Dayton Tuesday. He was signed out of Mexico as a nondrafted free agent last year and was 2-1 with a 3.08 ERA in six starts after pitching in the Venezuelan Summer League.

When Mike Burns was sent back to Class AAA Louisville, it cost Jake Robbins his job. The 29-year-old right-handed pitcher, signed to a minor-league contract with an invitation to major-league camp for spring training, was released. Robbins was 1-0 with a 2.88 ERA with four saves in 28 relief appearances.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sport...redsnotes.html

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Four Chattanooga Pitchers Combine To One-Hit Huntsville Tuesday
Lookouts Sink The Stars, 7-1
by Tim Evearitt
posted June 27, 2006

Four Chattanooga pitchers combined to take a no-hitter into the ninth inning Tuesday at Huntsville. With one out, Callix Crabbe ruined the no-hit effort (and the shutout) with a home run that barely cleared the right field fence. The Lookouts (6-3) came away with a 7-1 win.

Homer Bailey (2-0 - 0.00), making just his second start for Chattanooga, was even better than his first start. The 20-year Texan hurled a no-hitter over six innings, walking two, striking out six and uncorking a wild pitch. Bailey was Cincinnati’s top draft choice in 2004, the seventh pick overall. Monday he was named #3 on Baseball America's Hot Prospect list.

- Since Bailey was on a pitch-count, he came out of the game after six innings.
- Carlos Alvarado, who took over in the seventh, set the Stars down in order.
- Brock Till, replacing Alvarado, threw a hitless eighth inning.
- Shafer gave up just one hit, the homer to Crabbe, to finish the game.

Huntsville’s starting pitcher Corey Thurman was almost equal to Bailey. The Lookouts got to him for just a run on three hits over seven innings; he walked a batter and struck out eight. The Stars’ bullpen, however, was miserable.

Chattanooga had eight hits in the game, stranding seven base runners.

Javon Moran had his second consecutive three-hit game going 3-for-4, with one RBI; Miguel Perez went 2-for-4; Aaron Herr was 1-for-4, with three RBI; Rick Asadoorian was 1-for-3, he scored twice and had an RBI; Anderson Machado went 1-for-4.

In the fifth inning, Chattanooga got their first run off Thurman. Asadoorian led off with a walk and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Luis Bolivar. Perez reached base on an infield single with Asadoorian taking third. After Bailey fanned, Moran connected on a 2-2 pitch for a single to left plating Asadoorian. Looks 1 Stars 0

The Lookouts broke the game wide open in the eighth inning scoring six runs off reliever Chris Mabeus, who lasted just 1/3 of an inning. Chattanooga got six runs on four hits, four walks, a wild pitch, and a passed ball. Looks 7 Stars 0

Crabbe had the only home run in the game, a one-out ninth inning blast. Final Score: Lookouts 7 Stars 1

* * * * *

After finishing their series at Huntsville Wednesday, the Lookouts come home Thursday to play a five-game series against Jacksonville.

Each Lookouts game can be heard at 1310 AM radio or over the Internet at www.lookouts.com.

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_88275.asp

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Fisher, Mosby keep Dragons out of a jam
By Marc Katz

Staff Writer

DAYTON | Starter Carlos Fisher and first baseman Bobby Mosby had big starts Tuesday night, which was a good thing for the Dayton Dragons.

Fisher allowed only three hits and one unearned run through 51/3 innings. Mosby knocked in three runs with a bases-loaded single in the first. Then he hit a sixth-inning homer as the Dragons beat Southwest Michigan, 8-5, to win their third straight Class A Midwest League game at Fifth Third Field.

Only an unseemly ninth, when the Devil Rays scored three times, made the final close.

Fisher improved his record to 7-4.

Devil Rays' starter Matt Walker loaded the bases with walks in the first, and after Mosby's pop foul was dropped by catcher Colt Simmons, he brought home all the runners with a sharp single to center, the final run scoring on an error.

"I just got to put it in play and knocked some runs in," Mosby said. "I'm starting to hit the ball well."

Mosby raised his batting average to .273 and was taken out after his homer for Habelito Hernandez's defense. Then Hernandez knocked in two with a double in his one at-bat and scored on a Eric Eymann double.

Closer Bo Lanier allowed a run in the eighth and would have pitched the ninth but with the extra runs, manager Billy Gardner Jr. gave Damian Ursin some work. Ursin allowed a homer and walked two before leaving and the Dragons eventually worked out of trouble.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sport...06dragons.html

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Pitcher Cueto earns new challenge in Sarasota
By Marc Katz

Staff Writer

DAYTON | At about 11 p.m. Monday, more than an hour after the Dayton Dragons won their game against Southwest Michigan, Dragons manager Billy Gardner Jr. took the telephone call he knew would be coming.

It was Reds farm director Johnny Almaraz asking for starting pitcher Johnny Cueto.

"Johnny (Almaraz) liked what he had been seeing in our reports," Gardner said. "A the end of the day, Cueto probably needed a new challenge."

He goes to "high" Class A Sarasota in the Florida State League.

Cueto, just 20, was 8-1 with the Dragons with a 2.59 ERA. He walked just 15 in 76 1/3 innings and struck out 82. He allowed only 52 hits and threw the Dragons' only franchise no-hitter, even though it lasted only five innings due to rain.

Taking Cueto's place will be another 20-year-old (21 next month), Daniel Guerrero, who pitched one inning with Sarasota (no runners) and in two games at rookie Billings, Mont., where he won both, posting an 0.75 ERA in 12 innings.

• With the promotion of Cueto (and last week closer Blake Hendley), only five pitchers remain who began the season with the Dragons, and one of them — Philippe Valiquette — is on the temporary inactive list.

The others are starters Travis Wood, Zach Ward and Carlos Fisher plus reliever Russell Haltiwanger.

Valiquette left the team Sunday to attend the funeral of his grandmother, and was on his way back Tuesday. The Reds have not yet decided how to create a spot for him once he returns.

With the addition of Guerrero, the Dragons will have had 26 pitchers on the roster, two off the record set in their first season, 2000. They have also used 18 position players so far.

• Outfielder B.J. Szymanski, who is trying to work his way out of a slump that dropped his batting average to .229 on June 11, was at .232 entering Tuesday's game and walked and doubled in his first two at-bats.

Szymanski began the season in a slump and was hitting .149 on April 24 when he went on a 27-for-74 (.365) binge to raise his average to .264 on May 15.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sport...gonsnotes.html

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Bailey pitches six hitless innings
Reds prospect hasn't given up a run for Chattanooga
By Chip Haunss / Special to MLB.com

Homer Bailey remains a mystery to Southern League batters.

Bailey tossed six hitless innings on Tuesday night as the Chattanooga Lookouts shut down the Huntsville Stars, 7-1, at Joe W. Davis Municipal Stadium.

Making his second start since earning a promotion from Class A Advanced Sarasota, Bailey struck out six, walked two and left with a no-hitter intact. He has yet to give up a run, allowing only five hits over 12 innings for the Lookouts.

The 20-year-old right-hander allowed four base runners. He yielded two walks in the first inning, which he attributed to not having command of his fastball.

"I could not locate it early on and I walked a couple of guys because of it, but my change-up and curve were thankfully working," Bailey said.

Huntsville's only other base runners against him reached on errors. And in between the miscues, Bailey retired 12 straight batters.

"I really didn't feel comfortable until the third inning," he explained. "I was really having trouble adjusting to the flat mound."

Bailey was on a 95-pitch count and had thrown 86 when he was removed.

"I wish I could have adjusted earlier (to the mound), I probably wouldn't have struggled as much early and had to come out," he said.

The game was scoreless until Javon Moran ripped an RBI single into left field in the fifth, giving the Lookouts a 1-0 lead.

"I didn't feel any added pressure," Bailey said of the slim cushion. "I just kept sticking with my game plan and throwing my pitches."

Bailey was not thinking about a no-hitter, saying "I was just trying to focus on my game and make my pitches. The main thing is we got the win and I just wanted to help the team get it."

Discussing his promotion from the Florida State League, the Reds' 2004 first-round pick (seventh overall) said, "I had to step it up a little, the hitters are obviously better.

"I have been able to sit down and watch and study the hitters prior to my first two starts. It helped me learn about them and I have been able to capitalize on that."

Despite lobbying for one more inning, Bailey was replaced by Carlos Alvarado, who tossed a perfect seventh.

The Lookouts (6-3) were still leading, 1-0, before exploding for six runs in the eighth. The key blow was Aaron Herr's three-run double.

Brock Till replaced Alvarado in the eighth and worked a 1-2-3 inning as the Lookouts got within three outs of their first no-hitter since 1996.

Southern League saves leader David Shafer struck out the first two batters in the ninth, but Callix Crabbe broke up the no-hitter and shutout with one swing as he blasted his third homer of the season. Shafer retired the next two batters to end the game.

Corey Thurman (2-7) was the hard-luck loser after yielding one run on three hits and a walk over seven innings. He struck out eight for Huntsville (3-6).

Chip Haunss is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...milb&fext=.jsp

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Homer hype: Reds top pitching prospect Homer Bailey has done nothing to quiet buzz calling for him to be in the big leagues. In his second start since his promotion to Double-A Chattanooga, Bailey pitched six shutout innings without allowing a hit on Tuesday. He walked two and struck out six.

The 20-year-old Bailey has yet to allow a run while with Chattanooga. Narron has frequently joked that the organization needs to censor Bailey's information from his Minor League reports.

"I have to go back to Kinko's for more Wite-Out," said Krivsky, playing along with the gag.

As has been the case after each of Bailey's good starts, a reporter asked if it was time to think about fast-tracking the right-hander to the Majors.

"It is what it is. He's in the right spot now," Krivsky said. "It's nice to see him get off to a good start."

After announcing the extension of Narron's and Krivsky's contracts, chief executive officer Bob Castellini weighed in on the Bailey debate -- by saying he was staying out of it.

"He's going to follow the course that Wayne and [player development director] Johnny Almaraz and our baseball operation group lays out for him," Castellini said. "I'm going to have no say whatsoever."

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASAp...=.jsp&c_id=cin

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Stubbs RBI single in his first atbat.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...ilrok_misrok_1