By Nick Piecoro
SYDNEY — Growing up about a half-hour from Angel Stadium, Addison Reed remembers the feeling he would get watching Angels closer Troy Percival enter a game in a save situation. He remembers Percival spitting out his water and sprinting in from the bullpen, music blaring, and he remembers being in awe.
“I would get the chills and the goose bumps just with all the energy,” he said. “And I was imagining what if that was me running in there in that situation. That’s kind of how it all played out and what I wanted to do.”
All Reed has ever wanted to do is close games in the major leagues. He’ll get that opportunity again this season with the Diamondbacks after manager Kirk Gibson officially named him the closer Thursday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“That’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do,” Reed said. “That’s kind of awesome that they are putting their trust in me and believing in what I can do in the ninth inning. I’m ready for it and hopefully these next two games I’ll be out there in the ninth inning.”
The Diamondbacks open their season here against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night in a game that will be played at 1 a.m. Saturday, Arizona time. It will be televised by Fox Sports Arizona.
Reed closed for the Chicago White Sox for most of the past two seasons. The Diamondbacks acquired him in December in exchange for third-base prospect Matt Davidson.
Though it was widely assumed Reed would get the job, the Diamondbacks entered spring training with an open competition that included right-handers J.J. Putz, David Hernandez and Brad Ziegler. Earlier this month, Gibson narrowed it to Reed and Putz, but it felt like a competition only out of respect to the veteran Putz, who scouts say has not thrown well this spring.
There are exceptions, but relievers tend to be failed starters, pitchers who can’t develop a reliable third pitch or who don’t have the ability to hold up for longer outings. Reed, though, has never wanted to be a starter.
“Throwing seven or eight innings at a time sounds miserable to me,” he said. “I’d rather throw one inning four consecutive days than go out there and throw seven innings on one day and get four days rest.”
But Reed might not be where he is today if not for the year he spent as a starter at San Diego State in 2010.
After right-hander Stephen Strasburg was selected No. 1 overall in the 2009 draft, coaches asked Reed if he’d be willing to replace him in the rotation. Reed was reluctant. He was draft eligible that spring, and he didn’t know how his body would hold up in a starting role.
“My first two years of college I was 95 percent fastballs,” Reed said.
As a starter, he was forced to throw his secondary pitches more. He developed a feel for a slider, a pitch that’s now a go-to weapon for him.
“It’s a good thing I did start,” he said. “Who knows, I might still only be throwing fastballs right now in the minor leagues.”
Reed will be tasked with bringing stability to a bullpen that went through its share of ups and downs in 2013. Putz dealt with injuries and incon- sistency. Hernandez and righthander Heath Bell had rough stretches. The Diamondbacks tied for the major-league lead with 29 blown saves.
Reed doesn’t sprint to the mound the way Percival did. He settles for a slow jog. But he still thinks back fondly to those days watching the intense, hard-throwing closer lock down games.
“Just the atmosphere of the stadium, everybody loud,” he said. “We stayed until the ninth inning all the time. Unless the Angels were getting blown out and he wasn’t going to pitch. But if it was a close game and he was going to pitch, we’d stay and deal with the traffic after.”