Pirates righty prospect Reed able to get back in familiar groove in Fall League
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – For just about any given baseball moment, there’s a “Bull Durham” quote that’s relevant. After Carlson Reed tossed four shutout innings on Wednesday in the Arizona Fall League, it clearly was the gem delivered by Crash Davis to Nuke LaLoosh during a mound visit:
“Hey. Relax. Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some ground balls. It’s more democratic.”
There’s only one problem with the reference: Reed has never seen the film. But even though the right-handed Pirates prospect isn't familiar with the scene, he can still deliver on its mantra.
“It's just pitching to contact,” said Reed, who generated six ground-ball outs with at least one in each of his four frames during the Salt River Rafters’ 4-3 victory over the Peoria Javelinas. “Our defense is working on all cylinders tonight, and it'd be a shame to not try to get them the ball.”
Getting weak contact on the ground has been a part of Reed’s gameplan since the Pirates took him in the fourth round of the 2023 Draft out of West Virginia. He sports a career 1.30 GO/AO ratio -- 1.89 in his four Fall League outings. A reliever with the Mountaineers, Reed was given the chance to start with the Pirates and he ran with it in 2024, finishing with a 1.99 ERA, 10.8 K/9 rate and a .173 average-against over 108 2/3 innings across both levels of A ball. That success came with a 51 percent ground-ball rate, according to Synergy.
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He couldn’t replicate that in 2025 mostly because of a back issue that kept him off a competitive mound until late May and limited him to 70 2/3 total innings, a big reason why he’s here in the desert. He was still tough to hit (.197 BAA), but his command suffered (6.8 BB/9) and his ground-ball rate dipped (44 percent). It was hard for Reed to get in a groove, though he did finish the year with High-A Greensboro on a high note, posting a 3.33 ERA and a .143 BAA over his final seven outings.
“We weren't able to identify it right away,” Reed said about the back issue. “But once we identified it, we were able to at least have it be stagnant.
“There were days where I would start ramping up innings. It wouldn't get worse, but it wasn't getting incrementally better, so there was a little bit of cautiousness throughout the season. But overall, I was able to finish healthy and on an uptrend, and it's carried through here.”
Reed has thrown well all fall and his 1.29 ERA over 14 innings puts him fourth in the Fall League. He’s gone four innings in his last four starts, but this one was his most efficient. The 6-foot-4 right-hander needed just 44 pitches, a marked improvement from the 60 he threw last time out or the 49 over two innings in his AFL debut on Oct. 15. He walked just one after giving up seven over his first three appearances.
“I’m just feeling good with my mechanics, honestly, being able to repeat them, something I've been struggling with this year, but just attacking the hitters and letting my defense work,” Reed said.
Finding that groove that he had consistently in 2024 has been a key objective, along with making sure the back continues to feel strong.
“The main goal right now is to get healthy,” Reed said. “I feel like we've been doing a good job of doing that here, and in turn, it's also helped me perform a little bit better and just be more comfortable with my body.”