Michael Lorenzen To Make His Debut In Atlanta On Wednesday Replacing Homer Bailey

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Michael Lorenzen will make his Major League debut on Wednesday while Mike Leake has been pushed back to Thursday.

Lorenzen nearly made the team out of spring training, outpitching highly regarded Cuban prospect Raisiel Iglesias.  Iglesias opened the season on the roster to take the place of Homer Bailey because he was already on the 40-man roster, while Lorenzen would have required the Reds to waive a player.

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Homer Bailey's sprained right elbow has opened the door for Lorenzen.

The Reds pick in the 2013 compensation round out of Cal State - Fullerton made three starts for the Louisville Bats in which he was 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA. In 19 innings he struck out 12 and walked just four.

“Had he pitched two days ago, it would’ve been impossible," manager Bryan Price. "That benefited, but we’ve had our sights set on Michael for some time, particularly because he came in and threw the ball so well in spring training – maybe not statistically, but the ball came out of his hand real well. I think he’s mature and ready to handle this type of a challenge, so it wasn’t a difficult call. We would’ve been just has happy with Iglesias and there’s other guys throwing the ball well. It’s Michael’s opportunity, and I think he’ll take advantage of it.”

Lorenzen is thankful for that opportunity.

"Louisville was where I was meant to be," said Lorenzen, who can hit 100 mph on the radar gun, seemingly without effort. "We've been blown away by God's plan for me. The Reds have been awesome with the way they've treated me. When you're a competitor, you want to play at the highest level as fast as possible. I had three starts in Louisville and I learned from each and every one of them."

"Lorenzen, who was an outfielder at Fullerton, had to learn how to pitch instead of throw.
"I talk to Johnny Cueto, who has mastered mixing his pitches," Lorenzen said. "He's been very open by telling me why he used a pitch in the first inning, things like that."

Bailey will try rest and treatment but manager Bryan Price mentioned that surgery was an option. The Reds will need to create a spot on the 40-man roster to make room for Lorenzen but they don't have to make the move until Wednesday prior to the 12:35 game against Milwaukee.

“We’re still gathering information and trying to come to some sort of conclusion," Price said. "We don’t have to make a decision 24 hours after learning of the injury. Homer will do whatever we want him to do. He’s that kind of a guy. We have to make some decisions on which way we want to attack this. We don’t want to just throw some stuff out there. I don’t think that’s responsible. As it stands right now, we’re undecided on where we’re going to go. He certainly won’t be pitching here in the near future.”

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“Surgery is one option. You can go in there and try to do something. A lot of times you want to kick the tires. Not everything needs to be corrected through surgery. There’s other ways to do things. You can get stronger. There’s all the PRP stuff that’s out there there, so there’s other options out there beyond surgery. That being said, that would be one of the options,” Price said.