The Mets bench has not been a pretty place for most of the past two seasons. It’s been riddled with sub-.200 hitters that belonged in AAA. So when Matt Reynolds started his big league career 3-for-19, it was only natural that he began to be lumped in with the likes of Danny Muno, Eric Campbell and Ty Kelly.
But since June 14, Reynolds is 5-for-10 at the plate. Overall, he’s sporting a .276 batting average and an .805 OPS. A BABIP of .368 is a tad high but not overly fluky. The numbers suggest that as a whole, Reynolds has held his own in the major leagues. He’s even hitting .429 with RISP, which might as well make him Babe Ruth compared to the rest of the Mets.
This isn’t a cry to get Reynolds in the lineup everyday. It’s that the Mets have a hitter who is doing good things at the plate right now. They need to a) find out what they have, and b) play as many hitters that are hitting well as possible. Right now, Reynolds has made five starts all season. You can’t know what he is in five starts.
Riding the hot hand and giving a young player an extended look can pay off. Look at Matt Duffy and the San Francisco Giants in 2015 for example. Duffy, like Reynolds, was not a prospect. He was not penciled in for a large role. Yet due to need, the Giants called him up and played him. He hit .295 with 12 home runs and 77 RBI. Yes, Duffy has taken a step back in 2016, but the Mets shouldn’t be thinking about the long-term with Reynolds. If he can give them a solid batting average and clutch hitting this year, he should play until he proves otherwise.
Third base is a place Reynolds should be playing more often. Wilmer Flores has three hits in his last 29 at-bats and has had countless opportunities with the Mets to show what he can do. It’s looking more and more likely that he can’t hit enough to play everyday. So play Reynolds at third base against lefties and make him one of your top bench bats when he’s not playing. There’s nowhere but up to go with the production they’re getting from Flores in that role. See what you have in Reynolds.
This is by no means an article to suggest that Reynolds is the answer to all of the Mets’ offensive problems. He’s not, and he shouldn’t stop them from signing Jose Reyes, who adds much-needed speed and excitement, or trading for a third baseman. But he should play more until he proves he’s not a major league bat. The Mets are a franchise that gave a non-productive Campbell years to show what he could do. Why not give Reynolds a few weeks?
