Reds' Reed puts up eight zeros in Triple-A gem

In this age of customization, baseball gloves can be inscribed with anything the player wants -- a hometown area code, a relative's initials, a meaningful date. Cody Reed had a new glove broken in for his start with Triple-A Louisville on Thursday. After a difficult Major League season in 2016 and a rough April in Cincinnati to begin this year, he just wanted one simple inscription: Trust yourself.
With the way Thursday went down, he'll want to keep that mantra in mind as long as he can.

The left-hander scattered two hits and a walk while striking out six over eight innings to lead Louisville to a 3-0 win over Columbus at Huntington Park. It was Reed's first scoreless outing of the season with the Bats and his longest start at any level since he went eight frames for Louisville on May 7, 2016.
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He lowered his Triple-A ERA to 2.56 in his seventh start this season and hopes this is the outing that puts him back on track to Cincinnati. 
"I feel like I've had some good results in the Minors, but I really want to have them carry over," Reed said. "I want to get up there as fast as I can, and I know I have the stuff to do it. I just have to go out there and trust myself. It's usually been my own brain that's gotten in the way, and that's why I put those words 'Trust Yourself' as a reminder to myself."
The 24-year-old settled in early. He retired the first six batters and faced the minimum through four innings -- his lone blemish was a leadoff walk to Josh Wilson in the third and he was wiped out on a pickoff by catcher Rob Brantly. Reed's first hit allowed was a one-out single by Mike Papi in the fifth, and Todd Hankins added another base hit with two gone in the sixth.
Reed exited after throwing 60 of 94 pitches for strikes.

"My changeup was a really good pitch for me today," said the native of Memphis, Tennessee. "My last start I relied on my slider a lot. I think I threw it 30 times or something, but not nearly as much today. Maybe the third time through, I mixed it in some, but a big part of it was getting into quick counts and getting some easy contact with some ground balls. Obviously, some of those balls were hit right at guys, and they made the plays, so they deserve some credit. I didn't strike out everybody."
Reed's mention of his changeup is interesting as he had developed a reputation as a power arm who relied on his mid-90s fastball and above-average slider, dating back to his breakout season in 2015 in which he was dealt from the Royals to the Reds in the Johnny Cueto deal.
Upon joining Cincinnati's system, pitching coach Jeff Fassero, who worked with Reed at Double-A Pensacola in 2015 and is now with Louisville, wanted to round out Reed's mix and got to work on the changeup and its deception. Reed only threw the offering 11.5 percent of the time during his time in the Majors, compared to 52.6 percent fastballs and 33.2 percent sliders.
On Thursday, something clicked.
"In Columbus, you can usually see the radar pretty well from the mound," Reed said. "I always know where my fastball is, so I don't pay attention to that, but I want to know how my changeup's coming in. I don't need to be careful with it or anything like that -- just let the grip do the work. I threw one today and saw 88 and knew that's where it should be. Now, I'm throwing it like my fastball. ... Before I was leaking out a little bit, and the hitter can see me slow down so they know it's coming. I usually don't get those pitches back when that happens. But today, I just had to keep it between my catcher's knees, and it worked."
That's a promising development for a pitcher trying to work his way back to the game's highest level. Reed went 0-7 with a 7.36 ERA in 10 starts with the Reds last season. He made the big league club this year out of Spring Training as a long man out of the bullpen.
He didn't allow a run or a hit over eight innings in his first four appearances. Reed was given a start on April 22, but yielded seven runs on four hits -- including two homers -- and five walks over two innings against the Cubs. He surrendered nine earned runs over six frames in his final three appearances before Cincinnati sent him back to Triple-A to stretch himself back out to become a starter.

It's taken some time, but with quality starts in four of his last five outings, Reed admitted he's regaining the confidence that helped get him to the Majors in the first place.
"It's not at the all-time high, but my confidence is definitely getting there," he said. "Going through that last year hurt me because my confidence was so high up there to get the call, then it slowly all came down with the downfall. It was nothing physical or mechanical. It was definitely my brain getting in the way.
"That's why I put this thing about trusting myself on my glove. It's something I need to repeat to myself because it sounds easy to be confident, but it can be tough to do unless you stay on yourself."