PASADENA, CA- Ask anyone affiliated with the California College league who has seen Caleb Reyes pitch and they’ll undoubtedly call him what he is: a CCL and Arroyo Seco Saints legend.  

But just a few short years ago, Reyes was struggling as a catcher at Occidental College; switching to the mound sounded like a bizarre idea.  

Recently, Reyes did not hear his name called in the 2024 MLB Draft despite being one of the best pitchers in the history of one of the most prestigious collegiate summer leagues.  

So, was Caleb Reyes always destined to be a great pitcher or is he always destined to be underestimated?  

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If it’s destiny, that wasn’t clear right away. Reyes isn’t one of those kids who was seemingly born already in love with baseball.  

“I didn’t start playing until I was around 13 years old,” Reyes said. “It wasn’t love at first, it was more of an intrigue. I had some friends in elementary school who were playing and they’d talk about their games. And I’d play The Show video games, The Show ‘07 or ‘11 or whatever it was.” 

Reyes remembers getting to high school and how the increased difficulty of the game is what fueled him to come to love it.  

“I fell in love with the game probably in high school as I understood that it was more of a commitment than I initially thought,” Reyes said. “In order to fully commit to wanting to be the best I could and play in college and eventually play professionally I had to commit myself fully to the game. I ended up falling in love with that commitment and that passion for doing the best I can, getting better, and just the game of baseball.” 

Reyes graduated from Birmingham Community Charter High School in 2018 and enrolled at Occidental College in 2019 as a catcher.  

After he didn’t see much success as a catcher and COVID-19 halted the 2020 and canceled the 2021 Occidental College baseball seasons, Reyes decided to switch to pitching. That seems like a wild position flip two seasons into your collegiate career, but Reyes had a few things going for him that helped him make the switch.  

“I had potential to play another couple of years past Occidental on the mound,” Reyes said. “Having a good arm, and making an easy-ish transition at first, becoming a thrower. I wasn’t a pitcher yet but becoming more of a thrower on the mound.”  

Still, Reyes found it hard to switch from a position that he truly loved.  

“I loved catching,” Reyes said. “I loved being involved in every pitch of the game. I loved blocking, receiving, all the ins and outs that come with the position.” 

Supporting Reyes every step of the way was Saints Head Coach Aaron Milam. At the time, Milam was the pitching coach at Occidental and played a huge part in making Reyes’s transition to pitching possible.  

“When I had really bad outings on the mound at Oxy, he would work with me on some new pitches and how to think about pitching in a different way than I was,” Reyes said. “He just kept trusting me and kept trusting me.”  

Reyes shined in his first and only year pitching at Occidental, winning the Oxy Baseball 2022 Pitcher of the Year after finishing with a 7-2 record with a 3.62 ERA in 59.2 innings. He capped off the season with a one-run complete game at Cal Lutheran on April 29, 2022.  

That summer, Milam added him to the Arroyo Seco Saints roster while Reyes was looking to transfer with two years of eligibility remaining. Getting the opportunity with the Saints was huge for Reyes.  

“I knew I wanted to compete at a higher level and pitch at a higher level, and I knew the Saints would give me that opportunity,” Reyes said.  

Although Milam believed in and knew his pitcher already, Reyes thinks he blew all expectations out of the water during that first summer in Arroyo Seco. 

“I think I surprised the hell out of [Milam] with how I handled myself and how I was able to perform with the Saints,” Reyes said.  

Reyes appeared in 7 games that summer, starting one. He did excellently, striking out 25 batters in 23 innings and posting a 2.73 ERA.

However, the work he put in that summer began to shine through the next spring during his first season at Cal Poly Pomona (CPP).  

In the spring of 2023, Reyes was the Unanimous DII West Region Pitcher of the Year and the California Collegiate Athletic Association Pitcher of the Year. The most remarkable stat from that year? Reyes struck out 68 batters while walking only 14.  

That’s one of the pitching tenets Milam hammers home with the Saints: pound the zone and do not walk people. Reyes did that at an elite level in 2023.  

He came back the next summer to Arroyo Seco with reason to be a whole lot more confident and raised the bar on what Caleb Reyes could do once again. He was the ace of the Saints staff with a 1.73 ERA in 32 innings, striking out 22 and walking only 5 and receiving a nod to the All-CCL team.  

His second season at CPP in 2024 was better than his first too, with a lower ERA, more wins, and fewer losses than in 2023.  

Since leaving his old spot behind the plate and taking his new one on the mound, Reyes simply got more and more elite with each passing season. It’s hard to get drafted to the MLB from a DII school, but it seemed like if anyone could do it, it would be Caleb Reyes.

But the calls didn’t come.  

“This year would have been the last year I would have been eligible for the draft, but I didn’t think that was going to be a possibility,” Reyes said. 

Reyes did not register for the draft at all in 2024. Instead, he kept on pitching.  

At first, Reyes came back for one more stint with the Saints in 2024. He made three starts in the early summer, giving up 5 earned runs in 12 innings and most notably racking up 17 strikeouts in those 12 innings.  

Reyes’s familiar presence on the Saints for the third straight season was invaluable. He brought the team a sense of identity and culture and gave CCL fans a familiar face to root for.  

College baseball fans typically only get to watch their favorite players for a short time, and that time is typically even shorter for summer ball teams. Returning to the Saints for three straight years and performing at an elite level is unheard of and gave him legendary status amongst the select group of fans who had been following him from the beginning.  

One aspect of Reyes’s game that CCL fans will never forget is his unconventional delivery. Right before coming set, Reyes performs almost a full squat as he brings his legs together, which surely surprises fans and hitters the first time they see it.  

But Reyes started “The Squat” not just as a quirk, but for a practical, mechanical reason. 

“I needed a cue to get into my legs more and really get down the mound and use my hinge, use my coil, stuff like that,” Reyes said.  

Reyes also learned how to use the unique move to his competitive advantage as well.  

“I was doing well with it, and then I learned how to throw a pickoff out of The Squat,” Reyes said. “It messed with hitters’ timings, it messed with the runners’ timings. I could do different things with it and it just became like a unique trademark of mine.”  

Reyes will also be prominently remembered for his love for the Saints.  

“I just remember even when he wasn’t playing he was so invested into the game which ultimately helps everybody,” Saints catcher Alex Birge, who played with Reyes for two years, said. 

Much of that is due to the Saints believing in him when nobody else did.  

“[Milam] continuing to be there for me means the world to me,” Reyes said. “The amount of growth I’ve made every summer with the Saints has been exponential and really valuable to get me to where I am right now. So just like any other college team I’ve been a part of, the Saints mean just as much to me.”  

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Which brings us to where all that belief led Reyes.  

Midway through the 2024 summer with the Saints, Reyes signed with the Idaho Falls Chukars, a Pioneer League independent professional baseball team. Even though it wasn’t via the draft, Reyes is now a pro and could be signed by an MLB team any time, which is his goal: to get a pro contract.  

He’s doing well to earn that consideration so far in Idaho Falls. Reyes is 4-0 so far in his first five starts as a Chukar. He’s proving that he has what it takes to be a professional baseball player.  

If and when he does get a pro contract, it will be justice served for the great young righty.

“[Getting signed] would mean the world,” Reyes said. “To me personally, it would feel like I’m finally getting the recognition that I deserve. Like yeah, all the college awards and accolades are great. I felt recognized and appreciated because of my work that I put in there. But now I am at the next step, and I am at the next level, and I feel like everything I’ve done to this point has put me in a position where I deserve a shot and where I deserve that label of being an affiliate baseball player.”  

So is Caleb Reyes a pitcher of destiny or doomed to be underestimated?  

Probably both, to be honest. Reyes’s emergence as a pitcher is so remarkable it could only be divinely inspired and that rise will seemingly only continue. But this is life we’re talking about. People underestimate one another as easy as breathing, and I don’t think this is the last time someone in the baseball world will take Reyes for granted. 

So all we can do is try to give Caleb the same love and energy he’s given the college baseball world for 5 years now. 

Caleb Reyes, you are an Arroyo Seco Saints legend. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for our organization. We miss you dearly but we are wishing you the absolute best in Idaho Falls and we will be the first in line to buy your jersey when you make it to the bigs.  

And in a few years when kids imitate “The Squat” in their backyards when they’re pitching to their dads, we’ll be grateful we were there when that all started.  

 Contributors:  

• Saints reporter Ethan Inman (Southern California)  
• Edited by Saints Journalist Noah Pineda (UT Austin)
• Saints photographer Armando Jacobo (Long Beach)
• Saints graphic designer Yandel Salas (Chapman)