Alex Reyes

Position: RHP
Born: 8/29/1994
Height: 6'3
Weight: 175
B/T: R/R
Acquired: Signed as an international free agent (Dominican Republic) on December 3, 2012 (STL).

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 2-3 with a 4.96 ERA in 14 starts at Memphis (Triple-A), striking out 93 while walking 32 and allowing 63 hits in 65.1 IP.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Contract purchased from Memphis August 9 when RHP Michael Wacha was placed on the 15-day DL.
MLB Debut Date: 8/9/2016

Debut Details
August 9, in a 7-4 loss to the Reds. The last of five pitchers, he fanned one in one shutout hitless inning. He came on for Zach Duke to start the ninth inning and struck out the first batter he faced, Adam Duvall, on a foul tip. The next batter, Tony Renda, grounded out to first base and the final batter, Ivan de Jesus, grounded out to second.

Player Notes
While we have learned (or been schooled by our readers) that you can perhaps take the pitch speeds listed in the MLB play-by-play with a little bit of salt, it’s certainly not impossible to believe what they show for Reyes’ 11-pitch debut: Two pitched clocked over 101 mph and another three over 99. The guy throws sheer heat. Reyes is considered to be the top prospect in the organization and that’s hard to argue with. He’s not only got that blistering fastball, but a power curveball and a changeup in progress as well. Despite his debut in relief, it’s hard not to see him as the ace of a starting rotation in the not-too-distant future. In 2015, splitting his time among the Cards’ Gulf Coast League club, Palm Beach (High A) and Springfield, he combined to go 5-7 with a 2.49 ERA in 22 starts, striking out 151 batters in just 101.1 IP, walking 49 while allowing 70 hits and limiting opposing hitters to a .197 average at the age of 21. In 334.1 career innings coming into his debut, he’d fanned 449 batters and walked just 170, scattering 269 hits and limiting hitters to a .220 average. This year he was activated in late May after serving a 50 game suspension for using a “drug of abuse” (marijuana). The two-time Futures Game participant has an interest story of how he got to the Cardinals. Born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, an area not known for its baseball or for bringing out scouts in droves to watch the talent, he was considered a prospect but more as an infielder than a pitcher. His family could not afford to sign him up to go through the increasingly pricey domestic “showcase and travel ball” route and instead, in 2011, he went back to his family’s native Dominican Republic to live with his grandmother, and gained the residency requirements needed to qualify to sign as an international free agent while also seeing more time on the mound.

2080 Notes
Reyes checked in at No. 8 on 2080 Baseball’s Preseason Top 125 Prospect Rankings List where we had this to say about him: “An upper-90s fastball and a potential 70-grade curveball gives us plenty of confidence to put Reyes up this high, though we’d like to see some improvement in his command, and a more consistent delivery, to add polish to his profile this season.”