The total package averaged out to a mediocre, if dangerous, hitter. Combined with weak defense at third, first and the outfield, Reynolds had become a below average player and has been losing playing time since 2012.
The big Virginian has meandered to Colorado, his seventh team at age 32, where they're plugging any body they can find into a last place roster. The thin air would seem to be the last place you'd want a guy who doesn't make a lot of contact.
Which is what Reynolds may have said to himself. And so, through a quarter of a season, he's been someone else.
To date, Reynolds is channeling -- I don't know, Rod Carew? He's slapping singles all over the yard, eschewing the long ball and holding his own at the cold corner.
In 129 plate appearances so far, Reynolds has struck out just 36 times -- a mere trifle by the standards of a guy who fanned on 641 times in three seasons. He's hitting .330 -- 100 points above his lifetime mark -- with only two dingers.
Playing less than fulltime, Reynolds is having his best season since '09 when he pounded 44 homers and swiped 24 bases. If necessity is the mother of invention, the necessity of extending a career that appeared to be waning has been the mother of Mark Reynold's reinvention.
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