18 Jun

listen up

Listened to Cody Reed’s MLB debut on XM; there is such an old-fashioned comfort in listening to baseball on the radio. … Among the five batters the former Horn Lake High and Northwest Mississippi Community College standout faced in the first inning were George Springer, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Carlos Gomez. At Minute Maid Park in Houston. Welcome to The Show, indeed. … None of those four got a hit, but Marwin Gonzalez, the second batter in the Astros’ lineup, hit a home run to put Reed and Cincinnati in an early 2-0 hole. … The Houston broadcasters discussed Reed’s lucky glasses – the ones he has worn since 10th grade – and marveled at the action on his slider. “A lot to like” and “flashing brilliance” were among the comments during the game. … The Reds battled back against Dallas Keuchel, the 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner. Ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton, who made what was described as a sensational catch in center field in the second inning, drove in a run in the fifth on a ground out. … Ole Miss product Zack Cozart made it 2-2 with his 10th homer of the season in the sixth. … It was still knotted at 2-all in the bottom of the seventh when Evan Gattis, the former Mississippi Braves slugger, crushed a Reed fastball for a two-run bomb. … Reed finished the seventh and was done for the day. The left-hander fanned nine, walked three and yielded just six hits. He was on the hook for the loss before Adam Duvall hit a game-tying homer in the ninth. Still – from the sound of things – Reed proved he is ready for the big leagues.

16 Jun

debut alert

Cody Reed, the bespectacled left-hander out of Northwest Mississippi Community College, will make his big league debut for Cincinnati at Houston on Saturday, according to multiple reports. Reed, from Horn Lake, is 6-3 with a 3.20 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings at Triple-A Louisville this year. He was 6-2, 2.17 at Double-A Pensacola in the Southern League in 2015 after the Reds acquired him from Kansas City in the Johnny Cueto deal. The Royals drafted Reed in the second round out of NWCC in 2013. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Reed, one of the Reds’ top-rated prospects, almost made the big club out of spring training. He’ll join Chad Girodo, Chris Stratton and Tim Anderson as Mississippians making their MLB debut this season.

21 Mar

watch for it

Cody Reed, the former Horn Lake High and Northwest Mississippi Community College standout, will get the start tonight for Cincinnati against San Diego in a Cactus League game to be televised live (9:10 p.m.) on MLB Network. Left-hander Reed, one of the Reds’ top prospects, has a 1.13 ERA in eight innings this spring as he bids to crack their rotation. Even if he doesn’t make the club out of spring training, it’s expected the 22-year-old will make his big league debut sometime this season. The bespectacled Reed – he has worn the black-rimmed glasses on the mound since high school – went 6-2 with a 2.17 ERA in eight starts for Double-A Pensacola in 2015 after the Reds got him from Kansas City in the Johnny Cueto trade. P.S. Corey Dickerson, from McComb and Meridian CC, and ex-Itawamba CC star Desmond Jennings are with the Tampa Bay Rays on their historic trip to Cuba. The Rays will play the Cuban national team on Tuesday at 1 p.m. on ESPN, the first time since the Baltimore Orioles played an exhibition vs. Cuba in 1999 that an MLB team is taking the field there.

26 Jul

trade winds

Cody Reed made one big move this season when he rose from A-ball to Double-A. Now he’s making another, this one from the Kansas City system to Cincinnati’s. Reed, a left-hander from Horn Lake, was one of the three pitchers the Royals sent to the Reds in their trade today for ace right-hander Johnny Cueto. The main piece for the Reds is Brandon Finnegan, a hard-throwing lefty who made a name for himself in the 2014 postseason. But Reed may prove to be much more than a throw-in. The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder, a second-round draft pick in 2013 out of Northwest Mississippi Community College, is in the midst of a strong season. He went 5-5 with a save and a 2.14 ERA in 13 appearances at Class A Wilmington and earned a promotion to Double-A Northwest Arkansas, where he was 2-2, 3.45 in five starts. Reed may well land in Pensacola in the Southern League.