[one_half_first][/one_half_first][one_half_last]Organization: Houston Astros Drafted: 2014 2nd Round Position: 1st Base Hometown: Terre Haute, Indiana High School: Terre Haute South High School College: Kentucky[/one_half_last]
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About A.J. Reed
A.J.Reed attended Terre Haute South Vigo High School in Terre Haute, Indiana. During his career he hit .425 with 41 home runs and 150 runs batted in (RBI) as a batter and was 26–10 record with a 1.88 earned run average (ERA), and 390 strikeouts in 260 innings as a pitcher. Reed was drafted by the New York Mets in the 25th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign and attended the University of Kentucky.
Reed was drafted by the Houston Astros in the second round of the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft. He signed on June 11. Reed hit 34 home runs for the Lancaster JetHawks of the Class A-Advanced California League and Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class AA Texas League in the 2015 season, winning the Joe Bauman Home Run Award.
Reed began the 2016 season with the Fresno Grizzlies of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. He was called up and made his major league debut on June 25, 2016. On July 1, 2016 he recorded his first Major League hit with a single against Chicago White Sox. Next day he hit his first Major League home run off of Chicago White Sox pitcher David Robertson.
On Recruitment…
[pullquote align=”normal”]A lot of it has to do with what kind of showcases or tournaments that you go to, so the schools can come see you play. A big recruiting tool is just getting seen at big tournaments. The more exposure you get the better the opportunities.[/pullquote]
On Getting Drafted…
[pullquote align=”normal”]Well, for me out of high school I wasn’t really too concerned with the draft, but watching the draft I saw guys who I had better seasons than, but they lived in California or Florida or Texas where they could play year round … I’m from Indiana, so we only had a couple months to play in the year when it was warm enough for high school ball, so not getting to play as much and then not going to the tournaments kind of hurts being seen by the pro scouts as well as with the college recruiting.[/pullquote]
On The Baseball Mindset…
[pullquote align=”normal”]Baseball is a mental game. You got to have the right mentality, and going from high school to college, like I went to Kentucky, so playing the SEC I learned pretty quick that these guys are really good players, so you’re going to have to keep practicing and keep getting better on your skills to be able to keep up and pass those players, to become better. Once you’re in college, then hopefully your goal is to get drafted and move up the minor league system, so you just got to keep working to get better every day.[/pullquote]
On Working With Program 15…
[pullquote align=”normal”]It was nice to have that outside set of eyes watch me work on my swing and giving me feedback. I feel like I made some pretty good strides working with Jeremy this offseason and I put myself in a good position to be ready for this year.[/pullquote]
On Getting To The Next Level…
[pullquote align=”normal”]The biggest advice I always give is to just have fun and love playing the game. If you put too much pressure on yourself then you’re not going to enjoy it, because baseball’s already hard enough. You just got to go out and have fun and when you can play with a smile on your face you’re going to play better.[/pullquote]
[/one_half_first][one_half_last]Organization: Houston Astros
