AJ Reed...Interesting?
- Thread starter sluggercatfan
- Start date
Gonna be tough for him to break through (even if he is good enough)...power hitter that isn't a hit for average guy, strikes out a bunch and is benched vs all lefties...you almost have to be perfect in your opportunities.
More value in a guy that plays every day and hits dingers than a guy that pitches every handful of days.
How much difference between he and McKay that pitched for U6 and he seems to be doing well.
McKay somehow managed to convince the Rays that he could both hit and pitch. So far, the hitting has not shown up. He is hitting just .217 in the minors, including this season where he is hitting .167 in Double A. He hit well in AAA (.269) earlier in the year, so I am not sure why they optioned him down again.
His pitching has been excellent with an ERA of 1.85 in the minors. I think McKay probably always had better stuff as a pitcher, but since he could hit as well they gave him a chance to do so. I think Reed was more of the opposite. His pitching just wasn't really sharp enough to project to be a major league pitcher. He was going to get there on hitting.
AJ has done exponentially better than McKay at hitting in the minors. AJ has played 6 seasons in the minors and has hit 135 home runs. McKay has played 3 seasons and has only 14 home runs.
About time!!! Always been a head scratcher for me why this hasn't happened before!!!
Pretty amazing that he hasn't pitched in years and the White Sox just trot him out there. Granted it was in a game that was all but finished. That performance might get him more looks at pitching and at the very least adds another dimension to his game that might keep him in the big leagues a bit longer.
Let's hope so. I don't see him being a starter, but maybe he can become a serious middle reliever, and not just in desperate situations like this one. I am sure he has been working with the pitching coach to get ready for this situation.
Hard to say in all honesty. I don't think it is necessarily regular, but there are often some position players that come in to pitch. A n OF from the Orioles picked up a save not long ago, and didn't throw a pitch over 60mph.
So, this could have just been one of those random save the bullpen situations and AJ isn't really working on the pitching, or it could be a sign that the Sox are going to try to utilize him in every possible way.
Reed was basically throwing 80mph change ups...I did see an 88 fb, but of the highlights I saw, he wasn't trying too hard...save the bullpen type game and Reed was a smart option.