Chris Reed promoted to Triple-A Albuquerque

ALBUQUERQUE -- Dodgers pitcher Chris Reed is having the best season of his professional career, and on Thursday was rewarded with a promotion to Triple-A Albuquerque.

Reed, the Dodgers' first-round pick in 2011 out of Stanford, was 4-8 with a 3.22 ERA in 23 starts with Double-A Chattanooga, with career-high 116 strikeouts and 55 walks in 137 innings. The 24-year-old left-hander was a non-roster invitee to big league camp with the Dodgers earlier this year in spring training.

This was Reed's third season in Double-A, where he made 59 starts. He last started for the Lookouts on Sunday, where he allowed one run in seven innings in a no-decision against Birmingham (a White Sox affiliate). It was one of six starts by Reed this season allowing two or fewer runs in six or more innings without a victory to show for it.

Reed in July was rated by Jim Callis at MLB.com as the Dodgers' eighth best prospect in midseason, down from sixth in the preseason.

"Though Reed hit 96 mph as a college reliever, he has worked mostly in the 88-to-92-mph range as a pro starter. That's still more than enough velocity to succeed, because his two-seam fastball sinks so much and induces plenty of groundouts," Callis wrote. "Reed's spike slider gives him a second plus pitch at times, breaking sharply and arriving in the low 80s."

Reed's slider was rated as the best breaking pitch in the Southern League in a survey of Double-A managers by Baseball America.

In a corresponding move, the Isotopes demoted right-handed pitcher Steve Smith to Double-A. The 28-year-old has bounced back and forth between the Isotopes and Lookouts this season, and is 2-4 with a 7.09 ERA in 24 games between the two levels, including eight starts.