Jose Reyes swiped career base No. 500 on Monday night in San Diego, becoming only the 39th player in MLB history to accomplish the feat.
It was just another footnote in Reyes’ big league career. The 34-year-old also collected his 2,000th hit earlier this season.
After getting off to a dreadful start, the 15-year veteran is hitting .346/.354/.628 with three home runs and 12 RBI over his last 21 games (27-for-78). He also led the team to a walk-off victory against the Cardinals five days ago on July 20.
Reyes went 1-for-4 at the dish on Monday night, with his hit coming in the eighth inning on an infield single.
With Travis d’Arnaud at the dish and southpaw Clayton Richard on the hill, Reyes took off for second and beat the throw.
The Mets dugout erupted in celebration and called for Reyes to pick up the bag, but the shortstop laughed and waited until the end of the game to take it.
“I tried to do it back home in front of Mets fans at Citi Field,” Reyes said. “But I did it here. I am just happy, at same time we got a win too, that’s very important.”
While Reyes’ wheels aren’t what the used to be, it was the shortstop’s 12th steal of the season. He has swiped 20+ bags nine times in his career and could potentially accomplish the feat again this season.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He should be rewarded. He is an outstanding player. One of the things, he’s always done. He knows what his game is. He takes care of his legs. He has had a couple of severe injuries. He’s always been able to come back from them.”
It wasn’t easy at the beginning of the year for Reyes, who many wondered if his career was coming to an end. For the first three months of the season, he couldn’t find any lasting success, but since the middle of June – things have clicked.
“I won’t say I’m surprised because I put in very good work in the offseason to get to this point. My body feels real good. I don’t have any issues this year, thank God,” Reyes said. “Going to continue to do what I love to do, run and play the game the way I’m supposed to play. Play hard every day and come here with a good attitude.”
A tip of the cap to the Mets who stuck with the veteran even when he struggled to leap over the Mendoza line. Now, he is one of the team’s strongest links.
“I feel like I’ve been contributing to this ball club lately. I wasn’t able to do that, that was the frustrating part early in the year for me,” Reyes said. “I wasn’t able to do anything to help this ball club and now I feel like I contribute every single night, so that’s pretty good to see.”
While Reyes has been manning the fort at short, he has worked as a mentor for top prospect Amed Rosario, who when promoted will likely force Reyes to second base. Of course, that is contingent on Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera being dealt.
The two reportedly speak everyday on the phone. They became friends last season when Reyes played nine games at Double-A Binghamton on his road back to the bigs.
“[Rosario’s] the future shortstop for this ball club. He is the future of this organization,” Reyes said. “Rosario is going to be here sooner [rather] than later.”
It seems as though Reyes’ struggles are behind him, but the Mets have a decision to make on him beyond next season. With Reyes and Rosario close friends, New York should consider retaining Reyes in 2018 to keep the two together.
