Wild Things’ Reed cleaning up in No. 4 spot
Washington Wild Things
Tyreque Reed doesn’t get cheated on his swings. There rarely is a two-strike approach. Of course, when you hit the baseball as hard and as far as Reed does, hitting ground balls to the right side of the infield rarely is considered the better approach.
Reed, the Wild Things’ designated hitter/first baseman, once swung so hard he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. That’s an injury that is associated with pitchers, not hitters.
The injury happened back in 2021, when Reed was in the Boston Red Sox organization. And it ultimately led him to the Wild Things.
“It happened when I was hitting in the batting cage during spring training with the Red Sox,” Reed recalled. “My forearm locked up. I couldn’t feel a couple of my fingers. I knew something was wrong. I was able to work through it that year, but it needed surgery the next year.”
That “next year” was 2023, when Reed became a minor league free agent. He sat out the year expecting that his phone would be ringing with farm directors and scouts from minor league organizations on the line, offering chances to play in 2024. Those calls never came.
Reed, however, wasn’t ready to give up on baseball. The 27-year-old, who reached the Class AA level with the Red Sox, said it will take somebody ripping the uniform off him to get him to stop playing.
Reed, who is from Houlka, Miss., was working a camp in his hometown this past offseason and both his agent and a couple of scouts attended. They talked in glowing terms to Reed about the Frontier League and the Wild Things.
One of those scouts just happened to be a friend of Washington manager Tom Vaeth, who had noticed Reed’s name on a list of minor league free agents and was intrigued by his production.
Reed played two years at Itawamba Junior College in Mississippi before being drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 8th round in 2017. The 6-1, 250-pounder hit 18 home runs in 2018, his first full season of pro ball, at Class A Hickory. He had another 18-homer season in 2019.
After the pandemic wiped out the 2020 season, Reed joined the Red Sox as a minor league Rule 5 draft pick. He hit 17 home runs split between Class A and Class AA. In 2022, with the injured elbow, Reed was limited to 50 games and hit six home runs.
Reed got off to a slow start with the Wild Things this year but began to get into a groove in early June. “The game started to slow down for me,” Reed explained.
However, Reed injured a knee sliding into third base during a game in Florence and was placed on the injured list for several weeks.
“Not playing for a year, it was tough staying in baseball shape,” Reed said. “When you’re not playing every day, your body tightens up, you don’t move like you used to and it takes some time to get back to where you need to be to play a season.”
Since returning to the active roster July 4, Reed has been an impact hitter in the middle of the lineup. He even moved into the cleanup spot of the batting order, a position long held by Andrew Czech. Since his return to the active roster, Reed is 31-for-63 (.492) with 19 RBI in 17 games.
Last week, Reed went 11-for-19 with four walks, two home runs and four RBI in six games. Included in that stretch was a 4-for-4 performance Thursday in the Wild Things’ 4-2 win over Lake Erie.
On Monday, Reed was named the Frontier League’s Hitter of the Week for the second time in July.
“Things are going pretty good now,” Reed said. “I only hope to do better. … I hope to be more consistent and find a position to keep myself on the field.”
Reed has only played first base for Washington, but he has experience at the corner outfield spots from his days in affiliated ball. He also played some third base in junior college.
The Wild Things begin a three-game series tonight at Joliet before returning home Friday to play the Sussex County Miners.