A quick Google of new Red Sox pitcher Jake Reed will immediately lead to a bit of interesting information: He is married to Janie Reed, a member of the 2021 United States Silver Medal-winning softball team.
But that obviously isn't the primary reason followers of the Red Sox should be somewhat intrigued by the team's acquisition of the journeyman reliever.
Reed - who was claimed off waivers Thursday, with the Red Sox designating Eduard Bazardo for assignment - is just unique enough to make you believe there is major league sustainability in that arm.
On the surface, the move might not mean much to those simply waiting out the World Series to end and the big-ticket-item free agents to start flying off the shelves. This is, after all, a 30-year-old pitcher who has pitched for six different organizations over the past three seasons.
But, on glimpse at Reed actually throwing a baseball and you can understand why there might be some continued curiosity. Take, for example, this at-bat against current Red Sox Trevor Story ...
Or these ...
The intrigue seems to permeate the same types of front offices, with Reed making two different stints with the Dodgers, another with the Rays, and, most recently, the analytic-minded Orioles.
Last season, he pitched in big-league games with the Mets, Dodgers and Baltimore. The problem has come when digesting the results with those clubs, with Reed allowing 13 earned runs in 16 2/3 big-league innings, including a Sept. 27 stint against the Red Sox in which the righty surrendered four runs to the Red Sox without getting an out.
But because of the unique manner Reed throws the baseball, and the interesting ways it moves once it is released, the interest remains. And that is why he has found his way onto the Red Sox' 40-man roster.
(For a closer look at Reed's brand of pitching, click here.)
