Jorge Reyes (baseball)
Quick Facts
Biography
Jorge Luis Reyes (born December 7, 1987 in Rio Grande City, Texas) is an American pitcher for the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican Baseball League. He was the Most Outstanding Player in the 2007 College World Series for the Oregon State Beavers.
High school
Although born in Texas, Reyes calls Warden, Washington home and played high school baseball there. He graduated from Warden High School in 2006.
Reyes lettered 4 years for coach Dan Caballero. As a senior, he was named all-state first team, all-area first team, all-league first team, posted a 6-1 record, 0.32 ERA in 43.2 innings and had 78 strikeouts. As a junior, he was named all-state first team, all-area first team, all-league first team with a 9-0 record, 0.40 ERA in 51 innings with 101 strikeouts. Reyes also played American football and basketball.
College
Reyes was named a second team freshman All-American by Baseball America at the end of the 2007 season. He was also declared the 2007 College World Series Most Outstanding Player, only the 5th freshman in the history of the College World Series to be named as such.
Reyes posted a record of 7-3 during the 2007 season, including 2 games (2 victories) during the College World Series; the first one, a victory against Cal State Fullerton and the second one, a victory in the first game of the Championship Finals against the University of North Carolina. His ERA for the season was 3.10.
Professional career
Reyes was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 6th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft.
In 2014, he and his teammates on the El Paso Chihuahuas played a month-long prank on veteran teammate Jeff Francoeur. The prank was that Reyes was deaf. Reyes took elaborate steps to ensure the prank's success, including not listening to music in front of Francoeur and having the catcher sign (which was most likely not real sign language) while talking to him during mound visits. Teammate Cody Decker filmed and produced a seven-minute documentary, "On Jeff Ears," revealing the truth to Francoeur. The prank documentary went viral, getting over 1.4 million hits on YouTube.