St. Louis Cardinals: Alex Reyes was hall of fame material in Memphis

The young phenom for the St. Louis Cardinals made his final rehab start last week in Memphis. His work was hall-of-fame worthy.

Alex Reyes made his final rehab start in Memphis last week on throw-back Thursday in Memphis. The AAA-affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals is usually referred to as the Redbirds but on Thursdays they go by the moniker of the Memphis Chicks– an homage to the early days of the minor league franchise.

The fun of the Chicks aside, Memphis was flooded on Thursday of last week to see the young phenomenal arm make his final rehab start before his supposed activation off the disabled list. St. Louis sent a heavy contingency of reporters to catch this start and fans flocked to Autozone Park from neighboring states.

I was proud to be able to live tweet the game for us here at Redbird Rants. If you missed those tweets, jump over and check our tweet history here.

These were my takeaways:

• The Memphis offense is incredible and fairly outmatches the offense in St. Louis.
• Oscar Mercado is one fast dude and I would love to see him climb to the ranks of the St. Louis Cardinals.
• Carson Kelly looks good behind the plate but not at the plate.
• Breyvic Valera– a former St. Louis Cardinals prospect- looked really bad at the plate which made the move to ship him elsewhere look like a genious.
• Reyes was everything advertised.

More from St Louis Cardinals Prospects

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• The St. Louis Cardinals’ 2024 rotation needs work
• Cardinals: Moises Gomez hit 39 home runs, could be in St. Louis in 2023?
• Cardinals: These two prospects have the tools to break out in 2023
• Cardinals: Alex Reyes and Delvin Perez should be cautionary tales

A little more about the above… The Memphis offense was very able to string together hits at just a time when the St. Louis Cardinals were struggling to find a consistent offense. Additionally, the Redbirds seem to run on the bags at a rate that would help the St. Louis Cardinals.

Speaking of running, Mercado showed incredible speed. The dude went from first to third on what should have been a routine bloop to the outfield not allowing a runner to advance to third. This kind of speed could make any MLB team dangerous (think Billy Hamilton).

Carson Kelly is supposed to be the heir to Yadier Molina. I was one who drank the cool-aid too but watching him look confused at the plate in a AAA game makes me second guess the drink. Kelly deserves a good deal of credit for the masterful game calling behind the plate that helped Reyes, but he produced nothing offensively.

Valera… poor, Valera. I really like Valera when he was with the Cardinals and had even urged that the organization call him up. Instead, the organization traded him away. In return they received Johan Mieses, a minor league outfielder. Valera may not have had much of a future with the Cardinals and his performance on Thursday makes it difficult to argue he has a future with the Dodgers.

And to the reason everyone came… Alex Reyes. Superb. Phenom. Unmatched. Unhittable. Other made-up words…

Reyes was shutdown. In fact, he had K’d nine straight batters in the game. NINE STRAIGHT. If that doesn’t say that his stuff was shutdown then I don’t know what does.

After this final rehab start, Reyes had amassed 44 strikeouts in his three rehab starts. Want to see that number again? 44 strikeouts. Even more impressive, Reyes managed 23 scoreless innings in three rehab starts.

If those numbers aren’t hall of fame material, then I’m confused on what is. Of course these numbers came in the minors but if he can carry this same effort into the majors then this is the stuff of a hall of famer for sure!

I am glad to say that I was present for the masterwork that was Reyes’ night. If he never pitches this well again, I will have at least attended this jewel. I find myself doubting that he won’t repeat this performance in the majors and instead- if I had money- I would put money on the fact that he will repeat this in the majors and will be a hall of famer. Mark my words.

Next: Refusal to shift is hurting the Cardinals

Reyes is on the mound today and while his stuff isn’t as sharp as it was in Memphis, it is still keeping the Brewers scoreless through four innings but was just removed from the game. Stay tuned for updates from us throughout the game and after.