"D'oh!"

You might end making an annoyed grunt of your own if you haven't already added Homer Bailey.

Bailey, the Reds' top prospect the past three seasons, is set to make his major league debut Friday against the Cleveland Indians. In case you don't already know, Bailey is considered one of the premier pitching prospects in the game, on par with Phil Hughes and Tim Lincecum. The 6-foor-4, 204-pounder can touch the high-90s with his fastball, and he's 6-1 with a 2.31 ERA at Triple-A Louisville.

But before you get too excited, realize the stars aren't quite aligned for Bailey to be an immediate success. While Cincinnati's taken a very careful approach bringing Bailey through its system, this was because they don't exactly have a good track record of success with young arms. Bailey's easily one of the most anticipated Reds rookies in recent memory, so he'll be feeling a lot of pressure to be the savior of an extremely disappointing team that isn't very good. On top of all that, his first big league start comes against one of the premier offenses from the superior American League. That's an awful lot of strikes against the kid.

That being said, Bailey is still someone worth picking up, and that doesn't just go for keeper leagues. If you can get your hands on him, I'd probably keep him on the bench for now and see how this first game goes. He's got the goods to contribute, and the Reds have said he'll get at least another start regardless of how the first one goes. So let's see what he's got.

I'll have a little more on Bailey and some other pitching prospects in my next post.