Mark Reynolds
From BR Bullpen
Mark Andrew Reynolds
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1", Weight 200 lb.
- School University of Virginia
- High School First Colonial High School
- Debut May 16, 2007
- Born August 3, 1983 in Pikeville, KY USA
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[edit] Biographical Information
Mark Reynolds debuted in the majors in 2007. In 2008, he set an all-time record for most strikeouts in a season and then shattered it in 2009.
As a college freshman, Reynolds hit .283/.355/.561 with 15 home runs. Collegiate Baseball named him a freshman All-American. He batted .295/.364/.530 as a sophomore in 2003 and .274/.387/.504 with 18 steals in 22 tries as a junior. In 2003, he went 7 for 23 with a triple for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod League. Reynolds was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 16th round of the 2004 amateur draft.
Mark debuted professionally in 2004 with the Yakima Bears and batted .274/.372/.517 for them with 58 runs in 64 games. He tied Joe Koshansky for the Northwest League lead with 3 intentional walks. Though a fine season for the then-shortstop, he failed to make the NWL All-Star team; Asdrubal Cabrera was the player chosen at SS. He struggled in brief stints with the South Bend Silver Hawks and Lancaster Jethawks, going a combined 2 for 27. In 2005, Reynolds hit .258/~.321/.454 with 19 home runs for South Bend.
Reynolds had a big year in 2006. He batted .337/.422/.670 with 23 HR and 77 RBI in 76 games for Lancaster before being promoted to the Tennessee Smokies, where he hit .272/.346/.544 in 30 games. Overall, his batting line was .318/.401/.633 with 31 HR and 98 RBI. He was third in the California League in homers and tied Joe Koshansky for fifth in the affiliated minor leagues. Reynolds was second in the affiliated minors in slugging percentage and OPS, trailing only Kevin Kouzmanoff in both. He was second in the Diamondbacks chain in RBI and led in homers and slugging. He made the California League All-Star team at third base. Baseball America named him the league's 13th-best prospect, between Sean Rodriguez and Ben Harrison.
Reynolds joined Team USA for the Americas qualifier for the 2008 Olympics and hit .320/.393/.800 with a team-high 4 homers; he scored 8 and drove in 11 while playing second base, third base and left field. He tied five others, including Yulieski Gourriel, for the most home runs in the tournament, and helped the US advance to the Olympics, something they had failed to do in 2004.
In the Arizona Fall League in 2006, he hit .327 and slugged .564 for the Scottsdale Scorpions. He was fifth in slugging, tied for fourth in home runs (5) and was second with 26 RBI; only Chip Cannon had more. Reynolds was rated as the AFL's #16 prospect by Baseball America, between Neil Walker and Nolan Reimold.
Mark opened 2007 with the Mobile BayBears and batted .306/.394/.537 in 37 games before being jumped straight to the majors to replace the injured Chad Tracy. In his major league debut, Reynolds hit 7th and played third base. He flew out to CF Willy Taveras while facing Aaron Cook in his first at-bat but then had a walk, single, double and two RBI in his next three plate appearances but Arizona still lost, 5-3. He hit .279/.349/.495 with 17 HR in 111 games in his rookie season. By August, he was often hitting fifth in the line-up. He hit two home runs in the postseason, one against the Chicago Cubs in the NLDS, and another against the Colorado Rockies in the NLCS, although he only hit .154 in the two series combined.
Reynolds was John Smoltz's 2,913th strikeout victim with the Atlanta Braves, allowing Smoltz to break Phil Niekro's franchise record. It came during a rough stretch for Mark, part of an ignominious streak in which Mark tied the MLB record for consecutive strikeouts by a position player, 9. He struck out against Manny Acosta on August 18, twice against Smoltz on August 19, 3 times against Yovani Gallardo and once against Carlos Villanueva on August 20 and twice against David Bush on August 21. He ended the streak when he was hit by a pitch from Bush in the sixth inning. The previous position players with nine straight Ks were Adolfo Phillips (1966), Steve Balboni (1984), Eric Davis (1987), Reggie Jackson (1987) and Bo Jackson (1988).
But this strikeout record was only a hint of what was to come. In 2008, Reynolds was the starting third baseman all season for the Diamondbacks and set an all-time record for strikeouts with 204, breaking the mark set the previous season by Ryan Howard, and marking the first-ever season in which a batter had struck out more than 200 times. In spite of the strikeouts, he showed good power, belting 28 doubles and 28 home runs and driving in 97 runs, but the lack of contact depressed his batting average to .239. He still had a .320 OBP and .458 slugging percentage, leaving him a respectable 96 OPS+.
Reynolds broke his own strikeout mark in 2009 with 223 but had a better overall season. It was the largest increase (19) in the strikeout record since Dave Nicholson whiffed 175 times in 1963, 33 more than Harmon Killebrew's old record. For the year, Mark hit .260/.349/.523 with 30 doubles, 44 home runs, 98 runs, 102 RBI and 76 walks and stole 24 bases in 33 tries to boot. He had a 125 OPS+. He finished 7th in the 2009 NL in total bases (314), was 4th in homers (just 3 behind leader Albert Pujols) and tied Carlos Lee for 10th in RBI.
Sources: 2007 Diamondbacks Media Guide, IBAF website, MILB.com, 2003-2007 Baseball Almanacs
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 4 (2008-2011)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 3 (2009-2011)
- 40-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2009)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 1 (2009)
[edit] Records Held
- Strikeouts, batter, season: 223 (2009)
- Strikeouts, batter, right-handed, season: 223 (2009)
