UK Baseball: A.J. Reed
UK’s A.J. Reed could win the Triple Crown…and we aren’t talking about running for the roses. Reed is easily becoming one of the greatest players in UK history and the country is taking notice. So much so that UK sent out a list of his specific (and remarkable) stats, and it is a mile long. Just to put it into perspective for you:
HITTING
* Leads the NCAA in homers (23), slugging (.768) and OPS (1.259).
* All 23 homers have come in 42 games against weekend opponents, hitting .397/.520/.917 on the weekends, with 12 doubles and 60 RBI.
* 23 homers ties a UK single-season record, equaling him with John Wilson (1999) and Jeff Abbott (1994), and marking the first for a UK player in 16 years.
* Has reached base safely in 54 of 58 games in 2014.
* Is hitting .304 (35-for-115) with two strikes.
* Has hit .361/.515/.705 with nine doubles and 11 homers with runners on base.
* Has hit .379/.543/.712 with four doubles and six homers with runners in scoring position.
* Owns a .412 (29-for-71) average with two outs, adding 26 two-out RBI.
* Paces the SEC in walks, has 11 walks to lead off innings, a total of 12 two-walk games and a career-high four-walk game vs. Auburn.
* Leads the SEC with 15 intentional walks.
* Owns 19 multi-hit and 20 multi-RBI games.
* Has five games with at least four RBI and nine games with at least three hits.
* In his 15 starts on the mound, has hit .479/.609/1.000, with seven doubles, six homers and 21 RBI, owning an 11-6 walk-strikeout ratio.
HOME RUN BREAKDOWN
* Leads the NCAA with 23 homers and has more homers than 193 teams in college baseball.
* Hit 15 homers in 30 games of SEC play alone, which is more than all by three other league schools.
* Has hit a homer and earned the win on the mound four times, owning a total of six homers in his 15 pitching starts.
* Has six homers vs. left-handed pitching, with 12 of his 23 bombs coming away from Cliff Hagan Stadium.
* 17 of his 23 homers have been hit to leftfield, left-center, centerfield or right-centerfield.
* Has hit homers in three consecutive SEC games twice in 2014, including a school-record streak of five straight league games.
* Has hit homers in consecutive games six times, with three two-home run games.
* Is the first SEC player in the BBCOR era of bats to hit 20 or more homers.
PITCHING
* Leads the SEC in wins (11).
* Has wins over No. 1 Virginia, No. 1 South Carolina, No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 12 Florida, No. 24 Alabama, at Texas A&M, at Tennessee, vs. Auburn and at Georgia.
* Has worked 11 quality starts in his 15 starting assignments, working at least six innings in 12 starts and at least seven innings in 11 starts.
* Had a streak of working at least six innings in nine consecutive starts.
* Has made 30 consecutive series-opening, or SEC Tournament, starts on the mound.
* Lone two losses on the year came in a 3-0 result at Alabama, a game where he hit into a bases-loaded triple play and had a game-tying homer robbed, and vs. No. 12 Ole Miss, when the UK defense allowed five unearned runs to score in his first three innings.
MAKING HISTORY
* Is the first player in the SEC to hit 20 or more homers since Auburn first baseman Hunter Morris led the league with 23 in 2010.
* With 23 homers, became the eighth player in program history with 20+ home runs in a season and the first since Ryan Strieby – the 2006 SEC Player of the Year – hit 20.
* 23 homers are the most in UK single-season history and mark the most for UK since 1994.
* 70 RBI is the fifth-most in UK single-season annals.
* Ranks second in UK career history in homers (40) and RBI (165).
* Ranks fourth with a 2.86 career ERA, working 239 innings over 45 games.
* In UK single-season history, ranks second in slugging (.768) and ninth in on-base percentage (.491).
TRIPLE-CROWN CHASE
* At the end of the SEC Tournament for the Wildcats, was pacing the conference in homers and RBI, and ranked third in average, seeking the become the SEC’s first – and only – triple-crown winner since Rafael Palmeiro in 1984.
* Currently leads the league with 23 homers (11 more than the closest player) and 70 RBI (12 more than the closest player), while ranking third in the SEC in average with a .351 mark, just behind Jordan Ebert (Auburn), who has a .353 average with his season concluded, and Will Allen (Ole Miss) with a .352 mark.
* SEC records are not official till the end of the NCAA Tournament
* No SEC player has ever led UK in average, homers, RBI and pitching victories.
IN THE SEC STATS
* Leads the SEC in homers (23), RBI (70), walks (47), wins (11), total bases (162), OPS (1.259), on-base percentage (.491) and slugging percentage (.768).
* Ranks third in the SEC in average (.351), second in runs (59), eighth in doubles (17), ninth in hits (74) sixth in ERA (2.10), third in innings pitched (103.0) and ninth in strikeouts (68).
Even though they lost out of the SEC tournament, I expect these guys to make an NCAA run- especially with the help of Reed. The bracket will be announced at noon tomorrow.