So say Kevin Kelly and John Fay in the Enquirer:
The ball skipped into right field and the runner rounded second base.
Austin Kearns came up throwing.
“I haven’t really aired it out to the infield,” the Reds outfielder said. “But I let that one go pretty good.”
The throw, which sailed over the cutoff man, one-hopped into the glove of third baseman Joe Randa during the third inning Thursday at Ed Smith Stadium.
The runner slid in safe just ahead of Randa’s tag, but Kearns had passed a personal test and wowed fans in the process.
Kearns, who is competing with Wily Mo Pena for the starting job in right field, is less than 19 months removed from arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder.
“Last year when I threw one like that, it would be all right when I threw it, but afterwards it felt like my arm was going to fall off,” he said. “This felt good.”
Good news indeed.
By the way, I also noticed this:
Former Reds pitcher Jimmy Haynes and third baseman Brandon Larson were among 15 players re-assigned to the Devil Rays’ minor-league camp Wednesday.
I’d like to see Larson finally take advantage of an opportunity, and become a decent major league player. He’s got the talent to contribute (though he’ll never be a star, and probably never an everyday player), but he’s just snakebit.
As for Haynes, I don’t care if he ever throws another pitch in the majors. Unless he’s pitching against the Reds.
I have a personal interest in a couple of the players mentioned by Chad. Austin Kearns is from Lexington, Kentucky, and a co-worker got a genuine autographed 8×10 color glossy from him, framed and hanging on my oldest son’s wall.
The first game my oldest son ever saw was a AAA game in Louisville, where the kids were allowed to go on the field before the game for a workshop.
My son (age 3 at the time) ran over to third base and Brandon Larson helped him catch and throw a ball. My son has been a huge Larson fan since, and no matter the luck he’s had, he’s always seemed to have an extremely positive disposition.
One day the Reds re-called him, only to discover that he wasn’t eligible for recall siince he had been too recently demoted (I think they had to wait 10 days).
Larson was already driving to Cincinnati from Louisville when they reached him on his cell phone and told him to go back to Louisville. He showed up to the game before it was over and was on the field signing autographs after the game. He didn’t have time to get into uniform, but he was out there with the kids right away.
I wish him the very best.