The Return of Homer Bailey

With Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez making impressive debuts for the Reds this year, last year's Savior of the Reds Rotation has kind of fallen by the wayside. I'm talking about Homer Bailey, of course, who had a disappointing stint with the Reds last year and has continued to underwhelm in AAA this year. Still, with the disabling of Josh Fogg earlier this week, the Reds needed someone to fill in the rotation and Bailey got the call.

With his start this afternoon, he mostly picked up where he left off last year. He walked four hitters against just one strikeout in six and a third innings, giving up five runs (two earned) on four hits. The walks were what troubled him last year and so it's not a terribly great sign to see him walking four in his 2008 Reds' debut, even if two game on the last two hitters he faced.

If you're looking for encouraging signs from this outing, he did breeze through four innings pretty easily and the unearned runs were caused by two separate errors by the Reds. Still, according to the Pitch FX he topped out at around 88 mph, which seems awfully low for a guy billed as a fireballer. It looks like there's a reason Cueto and Volquez have passed him as prospects in the Reds' organization.