Quotes by Ricky Bennett

“He doesnt throw it a whole lot in games, but at least hes trying something he can work on going into next year.”

“His win-loss numbers arent that great, but were pretty pleased with the way hes gone about his business and the way he interacts with his teammates.”

“Hell get a lot of reps early in spring training, and if he shows us he can handle Class AA, thats not out of the question. Thats something hes probably shooting for personally.”

“Hes done everything weve asked. It looks like hes in shape and ready for 2006.”

“I think its good for the younger players to get the experience, and hopefully they can get something out of it.”

“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 thats where Taylor is at this point. His arm feels great and hes got a lot of confidence now.”

“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. Hes missed some time. But hes excited. If he goes Triple-A, it wont be a disappointment. Hopefully things will go well in the spring, and well see what happens.”

“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.”

“Hell 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, theres a chance realistically [that] well see him in Houston at some point during the season. We dont expect that to happen out of Spring Training. Were going to keep an open mind about it, but realistically, we see him gong to Triple-A.”

“We felt like, with the success that he had at Double-A, [it was best] just leave him there and let him complete a solid year at Double-A. And I think he benefited from that.”