Arizona baseball's Smith Bailey to miss rest of season because of shoulder injury

Right-hander Smith Bailey, a Freshman All-American last year, is being shut down for the season because of a shoulder injury.

Bailey exited his start this past Saturday at Kansas after two innings after experiencing discomfort.

UA coach Chip Hale announced after Arizona’s 8-6 win over New Mexico State on Wednesday that Bailey won’t pitch again this season. Arizona has two more weekend series before the Big 12 Tournament, which starts May 19.

“He's down for the year,” Hale said. “He's got some soft-tissue stuff. Everything's checked out so far, all the images they've done, it looked good. So it's just a matter of rehabbing it.

“But the problem is, once you shut a guy down, to get him back going again ... every day is probably two days to get back. So it's going to be at least a week before he picks up a ball.”

Bailey had a standout freshman campaign, going 3-3 with a 3.94 ERA and helping Arizona reach the College World Series. He’s 3-4 with a 4.67 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 61⅔ innings this season.

Bailey is the fifth pitcher and 10th Wildcat overall to suffer a season-ending injury this year.

Arizona concludes the home portion of its season Friday-Sunday vs. Houston. With Bailey out, left-hander Luc Fladda will move up a day and follow Owen Kramkowski in the rotation. Right-hander Collin McKinney, who finished Wednesday's game, is a possibility to start Sunday if he isn’t needed earlier in the weekend.