This is a bit of a pessimistic take:
When the Reds drafted Bailey with the seventh overall pick in 2004, scouts saw him as a Josh Beckett clone–a big Texas righthander with blistering heat and a knee-buckling curveball. He’s been dominating at times, and frustratingly inconsistent, but no more so than over the past four starts. In two of those outings, Bailey has fired six hitless innings, recording 11 strikeouts in one outing, and nine in the other. In the other two starts, Bailey gave up 11 runs in eight innings, including six over 2.2 on Saturday against St. Lucie. In the past, Bailey has gotten a reputation as someone who doesn’t necessarily love baseball as much as he is exceedingly good at it. Nobody can really know just how much Bailey wants it, but that kind of reputation could stick around if his game-to-game performance continues to fluctuate like a mid-90s tech stock.
Ouch. Any thoughts from you guys?
Tip of the Reds cap to JD.
Inconsistency is something that comes with being a young prospect. If he was just great and kept getting bteer in an ascending straight line of progress, he’d be pitching for Cincy right now.
Articles like this are crap
The reason the article it questioning his desire is because in an interview with BA last year, he expressed that he views baseball as a job. He doesn’t really love it, he’s just really good at it and he can make a lot of money off of it. This article brings up a legitimate question, Is he committed enough to become the ace we all think he can be, or is he willing to be mearly a decent pitcher with really good stuff.
You’re right, inconsitstency is coming from being young, but there are legitimate make-up questions that we’re just going to wait and see.