STARKVILLE — Mississippi State’s baseball coaches have the luxury that most staffs in the country would love.
Late in the game, they’ll get to hand the ball to a senior All-American selection to ensure a victory on the mound.
Senior right-handed pitcher Caleb Reed was selected as a first-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Wednesday after leading the team in saves with 12 and an earned run average at 1.55 in the previous season.
“Caleb Reed is a symbol of where we’re trying to get this program each and every year now,” MSU coach John Cohen said. “He does everything the right way. He’s our coach on that mound.”
Reed earned his final save to preserve MSU’s shutout win over Southern Miss in the NCAA Atlanta Regional and notched a win in relief against top-ranked Florida the following weekend in the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional. State posted a 38-25 record and finished the 2011 season with a No. 15 national ranking.
“If I can be the guy that proves hard work pays off in the end then
fine — I’ll take that,” Reed said. “What I have to remind myself and everybody is this is a preseason honor and I still have 40-plus games of a season to play to prove what I can do.”
It’s ironic that the only thing left for Reed, who Cohen calls “the ultimate teammate” to accomplish as a MSU player is a team-oriented goal of getting to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
“We’ve put together a great team this year and to be honest I’m not looking just to get to Omaha this year — I want a national championship in my final season here,” Reed said. “That would be special to end my career with that.”
Reed, a 5-foot-9, 190-pounder, is the first MSU player given an All-American selection since 2007 when three were given the honor (Ed Easley, Thomas Berkery and Brandon Turner). He is one of five players from the Southeastern Conference named to the first-team honor unit and among 10 league players to earn All-America team honors overall on the NCBWA’s 12th annual preseason All-America listing. The other first-team selections include pitchers Michael Roth and Matt Price from two-time defending NCAA champion South Carolina and catcher Mike Zunino and utility player Brian Johnson from NCAA runner-up Florida.
“What I love about this honor for Caleb is people need to understand coaches don’t turn around programs — players do,” Cohen said. “There’s a saying that says you recruit what you want and then usually get what you are. Caleb Reed is a representation of what a lot of schools should’ve wanted and what we are at Mississippi State.”
Reed will once again be asked to asked to close games in the 2012 season as the Bulldogs were 37-1 when ahead in the eighth inning last season.
He is a unique reliever that doesn’t hit the high end of a radar gun but has still found swing and miss pitches by learning to throw from three different slots.
“I’ve just found out what the difference is in being a thrower and a pitcher,” Reed said. “Being a pitcher is all about deception and I’ve found ways to change things up on hitters to get outs.”
Nearly four years ago, Reed was just another right-handed freshman struggling through a season with a 9.18 earned run average in the first year with a new coaching staff that didn’t recruit him.
“A lot of times kids don’t like to be called overachiever by their coaches because it can be interpreted they didn’t have much talent to start,” Cohen said. “Caleb Reed has all kinds of talent but he’s the leader of this team because of his work. He’s what we can point to and say do it like that guy.”
Before he went to play summer baseball, he was given a list by Cohen on things to improve. It was a test to see how committed the in-state product was to the new program expectations under Cohen.
“He worked his tail off in every way,” Cohen said. “We asked him to change his body shape — he did it. We needed him to improve hi command — he did it. He needed a second pitch to get swings and misses — he did it. Whatever we asked him to do — he came back in the fall with it already done.”
Reed heard the negativity surrounding Cohen’s program at the time and the questioning about how practices were intense with a coach that expected another level of play. He simply relished the fact that he was being used on the mound.
“Even after my sophomore year that I didn’t feel was very good, I looked back and realized that they used me (25) times so I was confident in thinking ‘hey, they must believe I’m pretty good’,” Reed said. “You could easily fold up shop and go to another program but that’s not me and what I believe in. I was going to make this thing work.”
Reed is now just 13 relief appearances away from third all-time in school history and last year was one save away from tying the MSU single-season record of 13. For a player that had everybody including himself wondering if he could get SEC hitters out early in his college career, Reed had 64 strikeouts in 57.2 innings of work during the regular season last year.
“What will happen is they’ll be a competitive moment in every game and that’s my time to get the ball,” Reed said.
However, he’s still be overlooked as he’s one of the few players on the first team list that went undrafted in the 2011 Major League First-Year Player Draft.
“What Caleb can do that’s so valuable is turn mid-80 miles per hour and make it seem like it’s 100,” Cohen said. “That’s why he’s a future professional player because too many people throw 95 and have it look like 80 because there’s no hiding it with their delivery or movement.”
When Reed, who was voted co-captain of the Bulldogs squad for the 2012 campaign, was asked to get less than six outs at the end of a game last year, he gave up just one earned run this season in 16 appearances.
“It’s about trust in that relationship between coach and pitcher and we trust Caleb in every way,” Cohen said. “What you see this year is no different. It’s a combination of need mixed with a young man dying to get the baseball handed to him.”
MSU opens its 2012 campaign and a 38-game home schedule Feb. 17-19 when the Bulldogs host first-time opponent Washington State in a three-game series at Dudy Noble Field.
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