Pirates Promote Former WVU Pitcher Carlson Reed

Right-handed pitcher Carlson Reed was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fourth round (104th overall) in last year's MLB First-Year Player Draft and is already starting to move up the farm system.

The former West Virginia flamethrower was promoted to High-A Greensboro on Sunday evening after 17 starts with the Bradenton Marauders of the Florida State Complex League. There, Reed pitched to the tune of a 2.43 ERA in 77.2 innings of work. He struck out 96 batters while walking 42. Opposing hitters failed to put the ball in play very often and when they did, it resulted in an weak contact more often than not. Reed held hitters to a .199 average, giving him a WHIP (walks + hits per innings pitched) of 1.25.

Just one day after getting the promotion, Reed made his first appearance with the Grasshoppers and surrendered just one hit in 3.1 scoreless innings before being removed from the game after a rain delay.

During his time at WVU, Reed bounced back and forth from being in the starting rotation to a bullpen role before finally settling in as the team's closer in 2023. All along, the Pirates have made it clear that they want to give him the opportunity to start first and see how it goes before declaring him a relief pitcher.

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