Articles on Joey Votto and Homer Bailey

John Fay wrote an article on Homer Bailey for the Cincinnati Enquirer. There is plenty of praise from plenty of guys.

Here are a few quotes from the article

"He's got a chance to be great," said Mario Soto, a Reds Hall of Famer. "If they need somebody this year, he's ready. I pitched A ball, went to Triple-A for a couple of months and then pitched in the big leagues."

"It's exciting for the fans, because quite frankly there hasn't been someone in the Reds organization come along like this as a starting pitcher in a long time," Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky said. "But a certain amount of patience is required. You want to put the guy in the right spot to have success."

"Stuff-wise, it comes as advertised," said Mack Jenkins, the club's minor-league pitching coordinator. "But, for his age, he has such a good head on his shoulders. The thing I like best about him, the thing that separates him, is his competitiveness. Every time he takes the field, he goes out there to win. And he prepares the four days in between to the 'nth' degree to win. Guys his age don't have a game plan. He's got a game plan for every day, whether he's pitching or not pitching."

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Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News wrote an article on Joey Votto.

"He was impressive," said Narron. "Against Brian Meadows, he hit the ball out of the park everywhere — left, right and center. That's just batting practice, but to be able to hit the ball out of the park the other way shows he has a chance to be a very good big-league player."

"I've played shortstop, third base and outfield in rookie ball, but I was catching in the minors and I couldn't stand catching," he said. "I was miserable. I'd catch bullpens and later I felt bad for the pitchers because I didn't realize until I got older how important bullpen sessions were for the pitchers. I was young and didn't care. I was 18 and it was the worst and I couldn't stand it, going crazy, getting sore legs."

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John Fay also wrote an article on Joey Votto

Here is something quite important from the article that it seems a lot outside of the organization seem to forget about when they talk about Joey Votto.

He quickly emerged as a top prospect. In 2004, he combined to hit .301 with 19 home runs and 92 RBI at Dayton and Potomac.

But in 2005, Votto struggled at Single-A Sarasota. He hit .256 with 17 homers and 83 RBI - not bad, but not a step forward.

Votto blames it on the rules then-GM Dan O'Brien mandated for minor-league hitters. All hitters had to take a strike before swinging.

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