Prospect’s debut I’d like to see: Alex Reyes

Imagine, 25 or so years down the road, you found a time machine. Being the die-hard baseball fan you are, one of your thoughts would be to go back in time and witness the debut of some of your favorite players.

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My question today is, which current prospect in the Cards’ system, provided he continues on his current path and doesn’t regress, would you do that for?

For me, personally, I would choose Alex Reyes.

Alex Reyes is currently rated our number 2 prospect by Baseball America, behind Marco Gonzales, who’s already with the team.

Reyes already has two plus pitches in his fastball and curveball, and an average changeup. Plus, each comes in at distinct speeds: a fastball in the 91 to 94 range, a curve in the 73 to 76 range, and a changeup that is in the 82 t0 84 range. So he can mix things up and keep hitters guessing, and even when they guess right on the heater or the curve, there’s s a decent chance that they won’t be able to do much with those. Even the changeup is as mentioned, league average, so he’ll have some success there too.

One of the things really special though, is the fact that Reyes will throw his curve in any count. As a result hitters can’t just sit back and wait on a 3-0 fastball, or they’ll be frozen or flail weakly at a plus curveball.

Now, Reyes debut may not be as a starter, it may be as a reliever, which is true of most rookies. He’s being groomed as a starter however, so I’ll refine this a little bit: I’d want to come back and witness his first major league start, even if it’s a short one. It’d be something to remember if he becomes a star. I’m a big fan of Adam Wainwright and enjoyed Chris Carpenter‘s time here, and I’d have loved to see their first starts with us. Well, if Alex Reyes maintains his trajectory (a big if I know, as many prospects flame out) he’ll be something to watch in the majors. I want to see that guy start his first game. I want to see him toss that curveball to a major league hitter on a 3-0 count and see that bat batter frozen in surprise as it drops into the strike zone. That’d be something to see.

As always, thanks for reading.