Ex-Lynn English catcher Reyes gets his Sox on

It won’t be long before 2010 Lynn English graduate Roberto Reyes will join the Boston Red Sox spring training camp in Fort Myers, Fla., where he will try to realize the dream opportunity of playing professional baseball.”I’ll be down in Fort Myers by the start of February,” Reyes said. “Depending on what I do in spring training, they’ll tell me what league I’m supposed (to be in), where I’m going to be at this year.”Reyes said he is “working as hard as I can” and that he hopes to make the Lowell Spinners’ roster. However, he said, wherever the organization puts him, “I’ll do my best.”A 6-3 catcher who excelled for coach Joe Caponigro’s teams at English, Reyes signed with the Sox this past summer (it did not become official until recently) and spent some time playing ball in the Gulf Coast League and in Boston’s winter academy in the Dominican Republic.”He’s got a chance,” said Ray Fagnant, the Sox scout who signed Reyes. “He’s got some big-league tools.”Fagnant, whose previous Sox signings include pitchers Carl Pavano and Brian Rose, said, “You don’t sign (someone) if you don’t think, hopefully, they can play in the big leagues one day.”Reyes’s path to Lynn English and the Red Sox began in Bani in the Dominican Republic. He came to Lynn when he was nine years old, and received a trip to a baseball field in Lynn by his father, Juan Reyes.”He loves baseball,” the younger Reyes said. “He always wanted me to be the best.”From age 13 to 16, Reyes practiced with his father, local coach Pedro Morales, and Joel Karakaedos, a friend who has worked with the major-league scouting bureau. At English, Reyes played on the JV team as a freshman, then joined the varsity for his sophomore year. He quickly made an impression, delivering a game-winning two-run hit with runners on second and third and two out against an undefeated Winthrop team as a sophomore. Last year, he hit a walkoff home run to right-center with two out to beat Marblehead and one of its best pitchers. He was a Northeastern Conference first-team all-star all three of his years on varsity.Reyes’ success did not go unnoticed. In August 2009, he played in the Sox’ summer rivalry classic game at Bentley University ? and he played in the Sox summer rivalry at Fenway later that month.By the beginning of his senior season, big-league scouts from organizations such as the Cincinnati Reds, Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago White Sox (and, of course, Fagnant) were showing up at Fraser Field. Of the Bulldogs’ 20 regular-season games, Caponigro said that there were scouts at 14 or 15.”I think he handled it well when there were scouts there,” Caponigro said. “I just reminded him, ‘You’ve been playing baseball your whole life. Do what you do naturally.'”On one occasion, Reyes homered in a lopsided game, and Caponigro took him out after three innings. After some protests from the major-league contingent, Caponigro said, “Sorry, other guys have to play.” The response? “Fine, but that ball was hit 500 feet.”However, the Red Sox did not draft Reyes, and he was considering attending San Jacinto Junior College in Texas, the No. 1 junior college in the US, whose alumni include Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.The Sox, though, had not forgotten the new English graduate. In the summer they invited Reyes to play in their draft games, including some at Fenway, with their draft picks and prospects. The audience included Sox GM Theo Epstein, longtime Boston baseball writer Peter Gammons and former Sox star Jim Rice. In batting practice, Reyes hit 12 of 20 pitches out ? including five to the parking lot.”He had made a huge, huge improvement from his junior year to his senior year,” Fagnant said. “I didn’t even recognize him from the previous year. We signed him in early July. He played well in the Gulf Coast League in Fort Myers.”Reyes returned to his homeland for winter ball (“I had a lot of family, and when I was playing there, I had fans. They were supportive of my game”). Now he is working out in Salem a