Blake Wood #36

In 2015 was a mid-season International League All-Star...was Pitcher of the Week in the Midwest League (8/20/07) and Texas League (6/9/08, 9/1/08)...made each of his first 67 professional apps as a starting pitcher before a relief appearance on 8/18/09 while on a rehabilitation assignment...in 2008 led all Royals minor league pitchers in strikeouts...in 2003 graduated from North Gwinnett (GA) High School, where he was an All-City selection...played 3 seasons at Georgia Tech, where as a sophomore in 2005 he was second-team All-ACC after finishing with a 10-1 record...in 2006 was a pre-season All-American and as a junior that year helped lead Georgia Tech to the College World Series.

Led the staff with 70 apps and led Reds relievers with 6 wins and 76.2 innings pitched...all were career highs...in the 8-3 loss on 5/20 vs Sea allowed a season-high 4 runs without retiring a batter (2h, 2bb)...his ERA in his other 69 apps was 3.52...3 times inherited the bases loaded and stranded all 9 baserunners (5/17 at Cle, 9/3 vs StL, 9/12 vs Mil)...from 7/23-8/22 collected at least 1 strikeout in a career-high 13 consecutive apps (13.2ip, 21k)...on Opening Day vs Phi pitched a scoreless ninth inning in his Reds debut and earned the 3-2 win on Scott Schebler's 2-run, walkoff double...was his first victory since 8/4/11 for KC vs Bal...on 5/1 at Pit, threw scoreless 10th and 11th innings and earned the victory after Scott Schebler's RBI-double snapped the 5-5 tie...in the 3-1 win on 6/14 at Atl recorded his second Major League save (other, 9-5 Royals win on 8/29/11 at Det)...was his only save of the season...on 6/17 at Hou allowed his first home run (by Carlos Correa) since 8/8/11 for KC at TB (by Casey Kotchman), snapping homerless streaks of 58 games and 63.2 innings...when snapped, by inning was the longest active homerless streak of any pitcher in the Major Leagues...on 9/19 at Cubs allowed a home run to Jason Heyward...was the 242nd HR allowed by the Reds' staff, a new Major League single-season record (241, 1996 Tigers).

Spent the season with the Pirates' Class AAA affiliate at Indianapolis, where he was a mid-season International League All-Star...led the IL in saves (29), games finished (46) and highest strikeouts/9 innings ratio among relievers (10.74)...ranked second in the league in apps (57)...following the season became a minor league free agent...on 11/20 was signed by the Reds to a 1-year Major League contract through the 2016 season.

Made his first Opening Day roster but made only 7 apps for the Indians, all from 4/2-4/19...was optioned to Class AAA Columbus on 4/21...on 6/2 was claimed off waivers by the Royals and was assigned to Class AAA Omaha...also spent time with KC's Class A Wilmington and Class AA Northwest Arksansas affiliates...in 34 apps overall at his 4 minor league stops went 2-2, 4.43.

Spent the first half of 2013 rehabbing back from 2012 reconstructive surgery on his right elbow before being activated and optioned to AAA Columbus on July 14 after being claimed off outright waivers from Kansas City in November...Rehab initially began on May 4 at Akron before soreness in his elbow forced him to shut down for 10 days before giving it a go again on May 15 at Lake County...Persistent soreness in the elbow forced him out another month before going at in earnest in mid-June before his July 14 activation from the 60-day DL...During his tenure with the Columbus Clippers he went 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA (16.2IP, 11H, 4ER, 23K) as he limited Triple-A hitters to a .186 (11-59) average against and fanned 12.4 batters per 9.0IP...Was promoted to Cleveland when rosters expanded on September 1 and made his first Major League appearance since Sept 28, 2011 at Minnesota with KC on Sept 2 vs Baltimore (1.0IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 0K)...Made one more appearance on Sept. 10 vs. his former club, the Kansas City Royals (0.1IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 1K).