storm warning
With apologies to Clark and Palmeiro, there is a Thunder and Lightning duo with Mississippi ties doing some damage for the Hickory Crawdads of the Class A South Atlantic League. The thunder in this case comes from the bat of Houlka’s Tyreque Reed, the lightning from the arm of Petal’s Demarcus Evans. On Friday night, Evans, a 21-year-old right-hander, jolted visiting West Virginia with three hitless innings of relief work, striking out five as the Crawdads, the low-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, rallied to win 5-4 in 10 innings. Reed, the Hickory cleanup batter, also 21, put up a relatively quiet 1-for-4, but the hit was his 17th in his last 10 games. He has hit .459 in that stretch. The 6-foot-2, 260-pound first baseman/DH is batting .271 with seven homers and 17 RBIs. A juco All-America at Itawamba Community College, where he hit .504 as a sophomore, Reed was an eighth-round selection in the 2017 draft. After he batted .350 with five homers in 35 games in rookie ball last summer, the Rangers started him out in the full-season SAL this year. He hit a walk-off homer in his first at-bat, as a pinch hitter. The Rangers picked Evans, 6-4, 240, out of Petal High in the 25th round in 2015. He has shown strikeout stuff at every level, averaging over 12 K’s per nine innings. Working exclusively in relief this year, Evans is 2-0 with two saves and a 2.23 ERA in 22 games. The spin rate on his fastball reportedly is among the best in the minors. He has a 3.35 career ERA, though his walk totals are high. Neither Reed nor Evans has cracked the Rangers’ top prospect charts, but they appear well on their way to refining their raw skills in 2018.