Jimmy Reed

Jimmy Reed spent the majority of the 2012 season as the Terrapins baseball team’s top reliever before moving into the starting rotation in late March.

The then-junior’s 2.70 ERA in 20 appearances (six starts) ranked ninth in the ACC, prompting the New York Yankees to draft the left-hander in the 21st round of that year’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

But the Gaithersburg native didn’t sign with the Yankees. Reed decided to return for his senior season, determined to improve his draft stock — and he did just that.

Reed dominated this year as one of the most effective starters in the ACC. He finished eighth in the conference in ERA (2.33), 11th in opposing batting average (.240) and 13th in strikeouts (74). He made starts in all 13 series for the Terps, including a five-hit complete game shutout at Duke and nine scoreless innings against Miami.

The St. Louis Cardinals rewarded Reed’s improvement Friday — the second day of the MLB draft — by selecting him in the sixth round with the 185th overall pick, which is the highest a Terp has been drafted since Brett Cecil went in the first round (38th overall) in 2007. Reed became only the fifth Terp in the past 20 seasons among the first 200 players drafted, and he will begin his professional career with the State College Spikes, the Cardinals’ Class A Short-Season affiliate.

In additon to Reed, three more Terps and two high school signees were selected on Day 3 of the draft.

“[It’s] nothing but excitement,” Reed said Friday. “I can’t tell you how happy I am for this. The Cardinals were the team I wanted to go to for a long time just because they have a track record for developing pitchers. It’s a dream come true.”

Reed spent the 2013 season as the undisputed ace and the lone senior in the Terps’ starting rotation, providing consistency and reliability on a young staff plagued at times by inexperience.

The left-hander totaled 22 strikeouts combined in his final two performances, earning consecutive ACC Pitcher of the Week Awards — the first player in program history to do so.

“It speaks volumes for the work Jimmy put in following his junior season,” coach John Szefc said in a release. “Obviously, he had a very good junior year. He put a plan in place to come back to school for his senior year and wanted to get into the single-digit rounds so he would have a better opportunity to move through the system, and that is what he did.”

Reed was the only Terp selected Friday, but he got some company Saturday. Right-hander Jake Stinnett, who began the season in bullpen as the team’s closer but moved into the starting rotation through about one-third of the year was drafted in the 29th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Center fielder Charlie White, who stole a single-season record 39 bases this season, went 15 picks after Stinnett in the 29th round to the New York Yankees. Jack Cleary, who started 38 games at catcher this season, was the final Terp drafted when the Milwaukee Brewers selected the senior in the 39th round.

Stinnett just finished his junior season, and White finished his redshirt sophomore campaign, so both still have college eligibility remaining.

The San Francisco Giants selected catcher Nick Cieri, of Rancocas Valley Regional High School in New Jersey, in the 32nd round, and the Kansas City Royals selected right-hander Michael Shawaryn, of Gloucester Catholic High School in New Jersey, later in the same round. Both signed with the Terps for the 2014 season.

Stinnett, White, Cieri and Shawaryn have until 5 p.m. on July 12 to decide whether to sign with the organizations that drafted them or play in College Park next season.

As for Reed, he’s already using the past to bolster his hopes for the future as he enters the minor leagues.

“It’s just a testament to the hard work I’ve put in this past year and my determination to improve my draft stock,” Reed said. “I never could have done any of that without my teammates and my coaching staff.”

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