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

[edit] Biographical Information

Mark Reynolds debuted in the majors in 2007.

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 is hitting .271/.332/.484 with 11 HR in 79 games through August 21 of his rookie season. By August, he was often hitting fifth.

Reynolds was John Smoltz's 2,913th strikeout victim with the Atlanta Braves, allowing Smoltz to break Phil Niekro's franchise record. It was a rough stretch for Mark. It was part of an ignominious stretch in which Mark tied the record for consecutive MLB 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), not a bad group to be part of.