I haven't been doing minor league weekly roundups quite frankly because minorleaguebaseball.com has been terrible about getting box scores online. At the moment they're up to May 10th. When they get things together I'll be able to do the weekly roundups again. Here's a brief look at what's going on in the minor leagues for the Reds.
-- Homer Bailey feels tightness in his shoulder:
Homer Bailey would have pitched the back end of Sunday's game, except he showed up Saturday with tightness in his right shoulder."You don't want to say this, but he's a special (No. 1 draft pick) case," Powell said. "If he doesn't feel 100 percent, we're going to look into it.
"(Today) he'll go see Dr. (Tim) Kremchek in Cincinnati. I think he'll be OK and be able to pitch on Saturday."
Not good news, especially since Bailey has been pitching so well. His stats on the year:
24.1 IP, 2.22 ERA, 35/14 K/BB
-- Darren Bragg, who received 94 at bats with the 2004 Cincinnati Reds, is currently hitting .184 in his first 54 at bats ... in the independent Atlantic League. Dan O'Brien sure knows how to pick 'em, when it comes to veterans anyway.
-- Ben Kozlowski is pitching very well for the Lookouts, and I think he'll probably be promoted in the near future. His line so far:
34.1 IP, 2.62 ERA, 32/8 K/BB
Love to see a strikeout an inning from a guy who doesn't seem to walk many hitters.
-- Edwin Encarnacion is raking:
.306/.389/.540, 6 HR, in 124 at bats
There are times when I think the Joe Randa signing might have been a tad foolish. Randa is playing well though, and I'm sure this AAA experience is only helping EdE. As long as he's our Opening Day third baseman next season I'll be happy.
-- Steve Kelly (2.20 ERA, 41.0 IP), Randy Keisler (2.59 ERA, 41.2 IP), and Tom Shearn (3.55 ERA, 25.1 IP) all continue to pitch pretty well. You'd think one of these guys would be getting a call soon, but none are on the 40 man roster. We've already lost Daylan Childress because of our poorly constructed 40 man, and I'm sure O'Brien doesn't want to expose anyone else to waivers.