Jo-Jo Reyes Arrives, Should Stay - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Just because Jo-Jo Reyes doesn't have a great "baseball name", doesn't mean he won't be successful in the bigs, especially his second time around. Reyes struggled badly last year, but was dominant in the minor leagues in 2008, prompting the Braves to call him and start him on Saturday.

Sample Size Alert time, but Reyes dominates left handed batter. He hasn't allowed a hit to one in the majors (admittedly 2.2 innings) and only allowed two hits to lefties throughout his run in Triple-A this year (again, only 7.2 innings). Although in fairness, he was pretty impressive against righties this year as well, holding them to a .228 BAA while posting a 1.76 ERA at Richmond.

Pitching coach Roger McDowell worked with him on his footwork before he headed back down to the minors this season, and it's apparently paid off.

'We moved last year to the third base side at the end of the year,' recalled Reyes, who began the season with a 20-inning scoreless streak. 'It was a big part of it. Just keeping my leg lift smooth and not so violent and that's helped a lot.'

Clearly, Reyes made a significant change in his physical approach to pitching. That should make a difference in your thoughts on rostering him as well. He pitched against Cincy on Sunday, going five and a third with five K's, while allowing four hits and walking three. The walk totals need to stay down, but the 3:1 ground to air out ratio is certainly a positive sign.

Long and short of it is that you can expect much better numbers than the 6.27 ERA and 1.69 WHIP he posted last year. You can also expect him, because of injuries to stick; and with the Braves bullpen quietly dealing and the offense being quite potent, he should have some nice fantasy value for owners as a back-end of the rotation guy.