Dodgers outright Jake Reed to Triple-A Oklahoma City

Jake Reed’s next baseball stop will have to wait a bit longer. The right-hander cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City by the Dodgers on Thursday. Reed has not been outrighted previously in his career, and with 140 days in the majors lacks the service time to refuse a minor league assignment, so he’ll stick around in the organization for a little while.

Reed was designated for assignment on December 29 to make room on the 40-man roster for designated hitter J.D. Martinez, who joined the Dodgers on a one-year, $10-million contract.

Reed pitched in five games for the Dodgers in 2022, allowing a run on six hits and a walk in 4⅔ innings, with five strikeouts. He earned his first major league save on August 30 against the Mets, one of his former teams.

The 30-year-old right-hander has been a vagabond the last two-plus seasons. After starting the 2021 season on a minor league contract with the Angels, Reed has joined – in order – the Dodgers, Rays, Mets, Dodgers, Orioles, Red Sox, and Dodgers.

Reed has been claimed off waivers six times in the past 17 months, including by the Dodgers on November 18, six weeks before designating him for assignment.

Including his major league debut with the Dodgers in July 2021, Reed has pitched parts of two major league seasons for the Dodgers, Mets, and Orioles, with a 5.74 ERA and 4.33 FIP in 28 games, with 23 strikeouts and 10 walks in 26⅔ innings. With the Dodgers, Reed has a 2.70 ERA in 11 games, and the right-hander has a 7.56 ERA in 17 games elsewhere.

In addition to his major league games with the Dodgers in the last two years, Reed has also pitched in both 2021 and 2022 with Oklahoma City, posting a 1.74 ERA in 19 games, with 22 strikeouts and four walks in 20⅔ innings in Triple-A. The Dodgers have not yet announced this, but presumably Reed would be among the non-roster invitees to major league camp once spring training camp opens in February at Camelback Ranch in Arizona.