Prospect Reynolds leaves Sky Sox for Rockies

Greg Reynolds was officially with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on Friday but had a suitcase packed.

His destination: San Diego.

Reynolds has a plane ticket for today and is expected to be Sunday's starting pitcher for the Colorado Rockies in the final game of a series against the San Diego Padres.

But while the Sky Sox played Friday, Reynolds sat on a leather couch in the players' clubhouse, watching baseball on television.

"I'm not nervous. I'm more anxious than anything," Reynolds said, addressing the possibility of making his major league debut. "I'm anxious to get it over with."

The 22-year-old, 6-foot-6 right-hander is the highest-ever draft pick of the Rockies - No. 2 overall in 2006 - following three seasons at Stanford.

"He has a great demeanor on the mound," Sky Sox manager Tom Runnells said. "He'll do fine. It never looks like he's overmatched."

Speculation about Reynolds' future began Wednesday when he was removed after pitching two innings. He allowed two hits, no runs and struck out two.

"That's the best I've felt. I was on top of my game," Reynolds said. "My confidence is up the last few outings. A month ago, I wasn't ready. I feel the adjustments I made - staying on top of my fastball, staying down in the zone consistently - have really helped."

"We'll put him out there and see what he can do," Rockies co-owner Dick Monfort said in Friday's edition of the Denver Post. "He would have been up here last year if not for the shoulder injury. In a perfect world, we would rather have him stay in Triple-A. But we aren't living in a perfect world. We have some issues."

While the Rockies may be rushing Reynolds, they are desperate to win after last year's late-season run to the World Series.

Pitchers Franklin Morales, 22, and Mark Redman, 34, have been dropped from the rotation. Redman was dropped Thursday, shortly after Reynolds was pulled early from his outing.

Reynolds was dominant at Double-A Tulsa last year (4-1, 1.42 ERA) but had shoulder surgery in August and didn't resume throwing until December.

With the Sky Sox, he's improved steadily despite mediocre statistics (1-2, 4.86). He's allowed four earned runs (22 hits) in his past 19 innings.
In seven starts spanning 333 innings, he's allowed 45 hits, struck out 16 and walked nine.