Jose Reyes
From The Met Wiki
| Age: 26 (born July 11, 1983) |
| Position: Shortstop |
| Bats: Switch Throws: Right |
| Number: 7 |
| Acquired: Amateur draft |
| Contract: 4 year, $24 million |
Injury Update: On March 23 Reyes was cleared for baseball activities, and Omar Minaya indicated that he may be ready for Opening Day.
Jose Reyes has (to many people's surprise) developed himself into a classic shortstop and leadoff hitter.
Reyes has been subject to much (generally unfair) criticism throughout his career:
- Injury prone: Reyes had several long stints on the disabled list during his first 2 years. But Reyes missed only 15 games (total) over the subsequent 5 seasons, with his biggest absence being after getting spiked on a close play at first (which cost him the 2006 All Star game). And then suddenly, Reyes missed most of 2009 and most of 2010 spring training due to different health problems.
- Doesn't get on base enough: This was true until one day suddenly it wasn't. When Reyes didn't draw a single walk in April 2005 he brought attention to the fact that his inability to walk, which led to an OBP of just .271 in his injury-shortened 2004 season, made him useless as a leadoff hitter, regardless of his speed. And then he started drawing walks. Over the next 3 seasons Reyes averaged 66 walks per season and a .354 OBP, all good numbers for a leadoff hitter.
Jose Reyes came up the day before his twentieth birthday, as a flawed player with great potential. He's been correcting his weaknesses.
His career really turned in a superhuman 2-week span in June 2006. In the 2 weeks following his 23rd birthday, in 57 at bats Reyes hit .561 and slugged .912, with a 1.496 OPS. He had 32 hits, 13 of them for extra bases, and 7 stolen bases. He won the NL Player of the Week award both weeks (sharing one of those with 23-year-old teammate David Wright). Before that span he was hitting .246 with a .722 OPS. From June through the end of the season, the 23-year-old shortstop hit .327 with a .908 OPS. For the season, Reyes hit .300 with 19 homers and league-leading 17 triples and 64 stolen bases. He placed 7th in MVP voting, one of 3 Mets to finish in the top 10 that year (Carlos Beltran was 3rd, Wright was 9th). In 2009 Reyes had a knee injury and the Mets though surgery was the best option. But Reyes told reporters that he will comeback but he never did. Mets manager Jerry Manuel said he will put Jose Reyes in the third spot in the Mets lineup on opening day byt he had thyroid condition and might be ready for opening day. He will stay out of baseball for about 2-8 weeks. Alex Cora might replace him for the opening day shortstop spot this year. Even Ruben Tejada will fight Cora for the opening day Shortstop spot. Reyes might come back to the Mets by the end of April after playing rehabbing games.
[edit] 2010
On April 10, 2010, Jose returned to the Mets in a 4-3 loss to the Washington Nationals.
On June 12,2010 , Reyes hit a leadoff homerun on a 2-2 count for his 3rd of the season off Baltimore Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz.
On June 19, 2010 Reyes hit 2 homeruns off New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes by hitting the second pitch in the first on 0-1 count (Solo Homer). Then in the third again off Hughes on a 1-1 count making it a 2-run homer (Him and Henry Blanco).
More info:
- At age 25 Reyes already broke the Mets' career record for stolen bases.
- Defensively, Reyes has a very strong arm, but his range is only average.
- In his rookie season, despite playing just 69 games Reyes placed 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting, hitting .307 with 5 home runs and 32 RBI.
- In 2004 the Mets moved Jose to second base to make room for Kaz Matsui. After Kaz struggled at short, Reyes was moved back to his natural position.
- In 2006 Jose won the Silver Slugger award, and led the league in stolen bases and Triples.
