Jose Reyes
From The Met Wiki
| Age: 25 (born July 11, 1983) |
| Position: Shortstop |
| Bats: Switch Throws: Right |
| Number: 7 |
| Acquired: Amateur draft |
| Contract: 4 year, $24 million |
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).
- 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 last 3 seasons Reyes has 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).
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.
