Gerardo Reyes, sidearm fire for the Padres bullpen

You don’t see many sidearm flamethrowers with fastballs clocked between 97-99 mph around Major League Baseball. That alone makes Mexican pitcher Gerardo Reyes a rarity.

Then add to his intriguing story the fact that he was undrafted, listed at 5-foot-11 but more likely 5-foot-9 and signed out of a tryout that he originally did not feel comfortable attending.

Reyes, a native of Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, México, is not the protagonist of a fiction story. He’s a San Diego Padres rookie who’ll probably make a lot of headlines as a very reliable relief pitcher in the next few years.

“A sidearm fastball at 99-mph,” San Diego’s manager Andy Green described Reyes with a smile. “It’s a live arm.”

Reyes is a diamond in the rough at the age of 26. He is from the same hometown as former Los Angeles Dodgers right-handed starter Ismael Valdéz, a 104-game winner with seven major league teams from 1994 to 2005, including nine wins for San Diego in 2004.

Reyes is making a very good 2019 impression on Green and the rest of the Padres while pitching between baseball’s top level and Class AAA.

“We are really excited to see some of the adjustments he made in his last Triple A outings,” Green said. “The reports we got were really positive. Velo might have been down a tick or two, but the command is better. Location was what he wanted, and his ability to mix was even better.”

Called up for the first time to the Padres on April 12, Reyes was the winning pitcher in his first game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, working two no-hit innings in Phoenix. Among the highlights of that first relief appearance was striking out stellar veteran outfielder Adam Jones.

His education as a major league pitcher has just begun.

“Consistent strikes,” Green said, when asked what Reyes needs to earn longer stints with the National League team. “You put yourself in a hole at this level [when you don’t throw strikes]. You walk the leadoff batter, then give up one or two hits and you’re in a lot of trouble.

“He went down with a plan, and he worked on his plan. He got in the zone, he attacked the zone. He mixed his pitches in the zone. If he does that, limit the walks, he’s going to be effective.”

A few years ago, Reyes had many tougher situations to overcome, and he came out of those with flying colors.

“I came here [to the USA] looking for better chances to play baseball for a 14-year old, which I did not have over there [in México],” Reyes said. “At the beginning, it was more about going to school to learn English. Obviously, I also wanted to play at a higher level.”

As he made the Lone Star State his new home, he went to Hidalgo High School in Hidalgo, Texas, and moved up to Galveston College, where he appeared in four games as a freshman, but he missed his sophomore year season due to an injury.

After going undrafted, his professional calling to the game he loves came through a tryout, which he attended after getting advice and support from friends, although he did not have confidence in his fastball speed.

“After returning from my injury, some friends told me about a tryout to be held near home,” he said. “It was at Mercedes, Texas. I knew about this the night before, but I wasn’t really interested in attending, because I had not thrown a baseball for about 6-7 months. The father of one of my friends said to me, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, there’s nothing to lose, we’ll just have some fun with a day of baseball.’”

They woke up early and drove to the tryout. Fortunately for Reyes, a Tampa Bay Rays scout at the tryout recognized his sidearm motion and immediately remembered seeing him pitch in college.

The scout recognized Reyes as soon as he got on the mound. He knew he had a better fastball than he threw at the tryout, so he asked Reyes how long it would take him to regain his fastball speed.

Reyes told him he would be back to his original speed in about a month.

“After a month, my speed was back and [the Rays] gave me an opportunity,” he said.

They signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2014 and then traded him that December to the Padres in a three-way seven-player deal that included the Washington Nationals.

The hard-throwing righthander knows about Valdéz’s legacy. Unlike the Mexican starter who was in the same rotation as Hideo Nomo and Ramón Martínez, his dream is not as a starter.

“I’d like to be a closer sometime down the road,” said Reyes, who pitches for the Obregón Yaquis of the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico winter leagues. “Now, I’d love to be helpful to our manager and the other relievers in the Padres bullpen, trying to do my best for them to get a little more rest.”

Of course, it’s way too early to pencil Reyes down as a closer, but he has the potential.

“There’s no reason to limit Gerardo’s ability,” Green said. “He’s got the stuff to pitch in every role in the bullpen.”

Featured Image: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images Sport