Reed blazes through minors to White Sox
Addison Reed could barely keep track of where he was pitching last season. This year, it should be more a matter of when.
The hard-throwing rookie righthander will pitch late innings for the Chicago White Sox, but which innings is a mystery. Manager Robin Ventura says he has a plan, but Reed, fellow
Rookie to watch
rookie Hector Santiago and veterans Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain will provide a closer and setup men.
That Reed, 23, is even in the discussion is noteworthy considering he began last season at low-a Kannapolis (N.C.). He’s now in Chicago, where he finished 2011 — after stops in high-a, Class AA and Class AAA.
“At the beginning of the year, I really thought Double-a at the most,” Reed says of the string of moves that had him sleeping on air mattresses and in whatever open bedrooms he could find in teammates’ apartments. “When I got called up there and kept pitching well, I thought maybe I had a chance at Triple-a. When I got there, I got the call to come up here.”
Reed’s ERA over five levels was 1.47. He stuck out 123 in 86 innings.
“Whenever they tell me to throw, I go out there and throw,” says Reed, who has a 95-mph fastball with a good slider. “I stuck to the plan last year, and it worked out real good.”
3. Kansas City Royals
-Season story lines: The Royals improved by four games from 2010 to 2011 and, though still a 91-loss team, the vibe around the franchise grew considerably. General manager Dayton Moore says the team is shifting from building to trying to win now. The emergence of pitchers from the farm system is lagging behind the hitters and though the Royals can show off some emerging arms in their bullpen and will have to tap that depth to fill the void left by closer Joakim Soria’s season-ending injury, they’ll be hard-pressed to find the consistency to challenge the unqualified beast of the division — Detroit. The highlight of the summer in Kansas City could very well be the All-star Game, but first baseman Eric Hosmer, center fielder Lorenzo Cain and left fielder Alex Gordon have had especially explosive springs, more indication the building plan is working.
-Season stat: 316. Royals relief appearances last year by pitchers 25 and younger who are still with the team. That’s 75% of the team’s 419 total relief appearances.
4. Chicago White Sox
-Season story lines: The White Sox this year are trying to simultaneously rebuild and win, a difficult juggling act. They would love to just rebuild, but they probably can’t without alienating their fan base. First baseman Paul Konerko and catcher A.J. Pierzynski are the only veterans in the infield, and Alex Rios is the sole veteran in the outfield. New manager Robin Ventura would love to run more and be aggressive on the basepaths, but the team is built on power. The White Sox think they can be a surprising contender, and they are buoyed by Chris Sale’s conversion from reliever to starter, as well as by DH Adam Dunn’s resurgence at the plate this spring. Sale entered Tuesday with 22 strikeouts in 24 innings this spring, and Dunn led the team with five homers and 14 RBI.
-Season stat: One. The White Sox have won one postseason game since their 2005 World Series title, despite spending $662 million on player salaries over the last six years, with an opening-day payroll that ranked among the major leagues’ five highest in four of the last six years.
5. Minnesota Twins
-Season story lines: Injuries to franchise cornerstones Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau made it easy to explain the team’s rapid descent to 2011’s 99-loss last-place finish after back-toback playoff appearances and nine winning seasons in 10 years. But even if the Twins can get a significant increase over Mauer’s and Morneau’s combined 151 games, seven home runs and 60 RBI last season, plenty more must fall into place quickly to exact a turnaround. The Twins know they won’t have free agent losses Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel, who finished 2-3 on the club in RBI in 2011 while Cuddyer led in homers and total bases. Can newcomers Josh Willingham and Ryan Doumit come close to that production? The pitching staff isn’t drastically different from the one that finished nextto-last in runs allowed last year, the same spot the offense finished in runs.
-Season stat: 112. Home games per home run for Mauer since the Twins moved into Target Field in 2010. He has one homer there, compared with 36 — or one every 10 home games — in his six seasons before the move.