Max Fried learned his curveball from his “baseball mentor,” Reggie Smith, when he was a kid attending the longtime outfielder’s baseball academy in California. Nearly 20 years later ...

Years ago, as a kid in Encino, California, he learned the skill from one of the baseball greats—Reggie Smith! Reggie, a seven-time All-Star and a World Series winner, was more than just a mentor ...

That would be Reggie Smith, who spent 17 seasons in the majors ... “I’ve always kind of had a feel or a knack for spinning the baseball. It’s more or less been a natural pitch.” ...