Reed commits to Kentucky

Reed commits to Kentucky

Craig Pearson The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute’s best baseball prospect since Mr. Baseball Josh Phegley in 2006 has made his college choice known.

Terre Haute South’s A.J. Reed informed Kentucky that he would accept the Wildcats’ full-ride scholarship offer.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound 17-year-old set the Vigo County home run record in the spring of 2010 with 18 homers. Reed has also been a dominant left-handed pitcher the past three years.

The appeal of playing in the Southeastern Conference made the difference for Reed, who also considered similar offers to attend Indiana State or Indiana. Ohio State and Vanderbilt also showed heavy interest, Reed said.

“Had to go with my gut feeling,” Reed said. “I’ve always wanted to play in the SEC. I’ve always thought it was the best baseball conference. I wanted to play against the best, and I figured that was the place to do it.”

Kentucky has never appeared in the College World Series, but the SEC is known as a hotbed for college baseball. South Carolina won the College World Series this summer one year after Louisiana State University took home the honors.

“They said I’d come in and pitch and have my chance to play first base and hit,” Reed said. “I want to be a pitcher later in my career. Right now, I’m going to do my best at hitting.”

Reed, who said he throws consistently at 87-88 mph and tops out at 91, could draw interest in the 2011 MLB Draft.

“It’s going to take a lot for me to not go to school,” Reed said. “I’m not going to put a certain amount on it just yet. I’ll just deal with that when it comes about.”

Reed is currently playing for Wayne Newton Post 346 in American Legion baseball, and he’ll have one more season for coach Kyle Kraemer at South.

Sounds like a good one. Maybe by the time he gets to UK he'll be consistently in the mid 90s