8/16/2012 - West Side Leader
     

DOWNTOWN AKRON — It was a few hours before the Akron Aeros’ game against the Portland Sea Dogs, and right-handed reliever Trey Haley had just sampled some of the clubhouse cuisine.

“The quesadillas here are pretty good, a lot better than the previous place,” said Haley, who, as a native of Texas, should know of what he speaks.

On Aug. 3, Haley and starting pitcher Danny Salazar were promoted from the Single-A Carolina Mudcats to the Aeros, a team looking to close out a successful regular season. Akron began this week with an eight-game lead over second-place Bowie in the Eastern League Western Division.

Haley’s first appearance with the Aeros was Aug. 7 against Portland. He pitched two scoreless innings in relief.

“My main goal every time is to pound the zone with my fastball and throw my secondary pitches for strikes, and I felt I was able to do that,” he said.

The consistency of the lineups, from top to bottom, is one difference between Double-A and the league Haley just left.

“If you take the top three hitters from every lineup in the Carolina League, that kind of makes up the lineup here,” he said. “You want to keep the ball down, not leave anything up for those guys.”

On Aug. 10, in the second game of a doubleheader, Haley earned his first Double-A win. He threw 2-1/3 innings of scoreless ball, striking out four batters, in the Aeros’ 7-3 victory over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

Haley was drafted out of high school by the Indians and selected in the second round of the 2008 June amateur draft. He said his father, Richard Haley, played a large part in his development.

“He was with me every day, going out on the field,” said Haley. “We’d go out to the ballpark all year ’round, having a good time.”

Every few days, Haley talks with his family on the phone.

“Hopefully they’ll be able to come up near the end of the year, because we’re making this run for the playoffs and hopefully will finish up strong,” he said.

Barring a complete collapse, the Aeros will begin their postseason three weeks from now. But there’s still work to do. This weekend, Akron hosts the Reading Phillies Aug. 17-19. They’ll then travel to Erie Aug. 20-22 before completing the home portion of their regular-season schedule, hosting Trenton Aug. 23-26.

The Cleveland Indians, whose postseason hopes were extinguished weeks ago, continue their West Coast swing. They head over to Oakland Aug. 17-19 and then to Seattle to take on Eric Wedge’s Mariners Aug. 20-22.

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