Adam Rubin of ESPN NY published an interesting article yesterday about Mets infield prospect, Matt Reynolds. In the article, Reynolds discussed his strong bounce back performance this year, and how he has improved since 2013. Here is what he had to say.
“I feel like I’m pretty close to being ready to play in the big leagues,” Reynolds said. “Obviously there’s still a lot of things that I want to work on and I want to get better at. This year has been really good for me. I’ve gained a lot of confidence from it. And I’ve also seen what aspects I need to improve on a lot. It’ been a fun year and the Fall League has helped out a lot more.”
“My approach at the plate, my swing improved a lot this past offseason,” Reynolds said. “It carried over into the season. I made a lot of adjustments of staying through the middle of the field and not trying to pull the ball too much. When you have that approach, you’re able to hit a lot more pitches. I was able to keep a consistent approach for most of the year and it worked for me.”
This season was a remarkable turnaround for Reynolds. After hitting just .226 for the High-A St. Lucie in 2013, Reynolds batted .343 this season with six home runs and 61 RBI for AA-Binghamton and AAA-Las Vegas. He also stole 20 bases and posted a solid .859 OPS.
The Mets are very high on the 23-year old shortstop. MMO’s John Bernhardt interviewed Sandy earlier this month, and he praised Reynolds for his defensive skills and sound approach at the plate.
“He’s been solid at shortstop. And we’ve left him there and expect that he’ll be able to remain there. He’s also an excellent athlete. He’s got a strong arm, pretty good range defensively. Offensively, he had just a great season last year — really a breakout season for him both at Binghamton and at Las Vegas. The numbers get a little inflated at Las Vegas, but his were right in line with what he had done in Binghamton.”
“I think what he’s done — by his own word, he’s indicated — he’s started to use all the field. He’s not really trying to pull everything. And although he had some home runs, and I think he’s got three home runs already in the Arizona Fall League, he tries to use the whole field. He’s sort of a gap-to-gap guy. So we’re very high on Reynolds and hope that he can at least at the outset of 2015 duplicate what he was able to do last year.”
So what’s the plan for Reynolds? Alderson told reporters on Thursday that he will likely start the season in Las Vegas and won’t break camp with the Mets. However, I expect him to get called up at some point during the year. Reynolds is a polished hitter drafted out of college, so he should not need a lot more time in the minors before he is ready to play in New York.
