Prospect #1, RHP Alex Reyes
Age At The Start Of The 2018 Season: 23
Signed Out Of The Dominic Republic in 2012
*Was Injured For The Entirely Of 2017 While Recovering From Tommy John Surgery*
2016 AAA FIP:3.72 2016 MLB FIP: 2.67
Well, we've reached our conclusion! It's been fun and exhausting, and I hope that you've had fun! Thanks for tagging along with us on our journey through the Cardinals system!!!
In conjunction with my friend Colin Garner over at The Redbird Daily, we present to you our combined list of the Top 30 Prospects in the Cardinals organization! Every other day for the next two months, From January 28th until March 29th, we will be presenting you with an exhaustive evaluation on each of the top 30 prospects in the organization starting with prospect #30 and counting down to prospect #1. This is our combined list, not our own individual lists. For additional information on how we came these rankings, CLICK HERE. Without further delay, we present...
Kyle Reis (Prospect #1 On Personal List, Prior To Combining Lists With Colin Garner)
For years now, Everyone has said everything that there is to say about Reyes. Feel free to go back and read those countless articles at your leisure.
Here's what I know: I like Alex Reyes. Alex Reyes is good. Really good. He does This:
Don't forget this:
And This:
This..... Wow:
This:
This, too:
And finally, these kinds of things:
That's some great stuff, right?! Well, he also throws a fastball. It's good. Really good. Like, "plus plus" good. Javier Baez certainly thinks so:
With a player this talented, there isn't much to not like. If I had to pick something to be concerned about, it'd be this:
You just never know how a player is going to recover from TJ surgery. Especially a player that had a command issue before entering the majors. Some have expressed concern that he didn't last deep in to games in the minors. That's valid, but he really started to command and dominate towards the end of his turn in the minors during the 2016 season. He's going to need innings. Once he gets them, the sky is the limit.
Alex Reyes is the type of prospect that you don't make a comparison with. He's too uniquely skilled for that. His ceiling is so high that there isn't a comparison that could do it justice. Sure, He's more Noah Syndergaard than anything, but even that doesn't tell the entire story of his potential. That's what makes him the #1 prospect in the organization: He's potentially better than any player that you could compare him too.
And that concludes our 60 days worth of player write ups! Thank you so much to everyone for playing along with us over the last two months. As this articles debuts, we will have our first Cardinals' baseball game that means something of 2018. Prospect #7 Jordan Hicks and Prospect #2 have made the opening day roster and the future is truly bright! Here's to a great 2018 season!
As always, these articles can't be done without Fangraphs and Baseball Reference. They are equally as reliant on the skills of Cardinalsgif's and NChill17. It's a pleasure to do this list with my friend Colin Garner at The Redbird Daily.
And please remember to check out my colleague Colin Garner's write up of our #1 Prospect (Colin's personal #1 prospect, prior to combining lists) over at The Redbird Daily!
Thanks For Reading!
What are your thoughts on Reyes not coming back until the 28th of May?