Ricky Bennett Quotes (12 Quotes)

This is about the time that you see an increase in velocity. The scar tissue from the surgery is pretty much done. A player usually gets a comfort level of being over the surgery, and I think that's where Taylor is at this point. His arm feels great and he's got a lot of confidence now.

He'll get some innings under his belt and pitch in some big-league games. Our thought process is to send him to Triple-A, put him in the rotation and have him to continue to develop. If he continues to do well, there's a chance realistically that we'll see him in Houston at some point during the season. We don't expect that to happen out of Spring Training. We're going to keep an open mind about it, but realistically, we see him gong to Triple-A.

You hear about Fernando and Jason, and everybody kind of forgets about Taylor, because he had surgery, his numbers last year were just so-so. He's missed some time. But he's excited. If he goes Triple-A, it won't be a disappointment. Hopefully things will

I hope he inspired some of our students and reminded them that coming from a small town is not a negative. Here, when somebody is successful, we all take part. And in tragedy, we all pull together.

He's doing a nice job. This year, coming into camp, we finally started to talk to him about his mechanics and what our plans are for him this spring. Last year, we let him come in and get used to the program. Now, we're taking it to step two and really getting focused on making some adjustments to prepare him for the season.

His win-loss numbers aren't that great, but we're pretty pleased with the way he's gone about his business and the way he interacts with his teammates.

He doesn't throw it a whole lot in games, but at least he's trying something he can work on going into next year.

Hes really made an impression on everybody in camp. We went over to a big-league game the other day, and he was very impressive to the staff, the way he goes about his business, the way he plays the game. Hes very focused. He understands what he needs to do to get better as a player and hes going to work at it every day. Hes moving fast.

As he gets closer to returning to action, we'll send him back up there and start doing baseball activities.

He's a very mature kid. He keeps everything in perspective. He's not looking too far down the road. He understands he still has to do some things before he gets to the big leagues. He's good with the media, he's a good teammate and he's going to be big part of our future.

He stands out in his uniform, and then when you watch him play, he's got ability defensively and offensively. We don't have many guys in our system that have the ability to hit for average, hit for power and play average to above average defense. He's a guy that shows those talents. That's what makes him exciting. He plays with a lot of energy and he's got some tools. The ball jumps off his bat.

That's something director of pitching development Dewey Robinson and the staff have really worked on in the last year or so, improving his mound presence. Not only him, but all the other pitchers in the organization. But that's really stood out.