Korea To Colorado: How Mark Reynolds became "the best player" on the Rockies

DENVER – As soon as the Colorado Rockies finished their 2016 season, the hunt to improve the team began in earnest. The consensus was clear and Colorado didn’t outthink themselves, making priorities of bettering their bullpen and making improvements at the first base position.

Little did they know that they would indeed get a massive upgrade in production at first base, but not from their newly minted $70 million free agent. As it turned out, the guy they signed to a minor league contract as an insurance policy for their shiny new toy — the very same guy they seemed ready and willing to part ways with — has been not just the team’s MVP but also one of the best players in MLB through the first two months of the season.

The questions surrounding Mark Reynolds have evolved from “how do we replace this guy?” to “why did they sign him and not someone younger with more pop like Chris Carter?” to “will he remain in the country?” to “will he even make the Opening Day roster?” to “has he been the club’s best player in the early going?” to “what the hell happens now that Ian Desmond it back?” to “is he legitimately a league MVP candidate?”

It was reported in February that Reynolds turned down a $3 million contract to go play in Korea to return to the Rockies. Thomas Harding of MLB.com wrote:

“Ideally, he’ll serve as insurance at the infield corners, and possibly the outfield corners. But if there is an injury to Ian Desmond, who signed for five years and $70 million as the new first baseman, Reynolds could grab his old job. After hitting .282 with a .356 OBP with 14 homers and 53 RBIs in a season twice interrupted by left-hand injuries, Reynolds came back to familiar surroundings after not fielding Major League offers.”

After not fielding any Major League offers … he has been one of the very best players in the Major Leagues.When Desmond went down with an injury in spring training, it was no surprise that Reynolds stepped right in to take his spot. The 33-year-old veteran has a resume that demanded it, despite the lack of offers. Perhaps it was fate he ended up back in Colorado, where he was a perfect fit and where he says he felt he had the best chance to win.

BSN Denver wrote on Feb. 1, of Reynolds rejoining the team:

“[He] also likely still has plenty left in the tank. He makes the most amount of sense to assume the role when Ian Desmond moves into the outfield to spell one of those guys against a tough lefty. Reynolds is a reliable veteran who you know can give you a good at-bat late in the game. Additionally, by our accounts, he is loved and respected in the clubhouse as a leader and earned many points by coming back early from a tough injury last season.“

He’s been so much more than that. He’s been not just a feel-good story but an important cog — probably the most important cog — in a Rockies machine rolling along in first place atop the National League West.

“I love having Mark there,” Nolan Arenado says of the confidence he feels unleashing throws in Reynolds’ direction. “It makes me feel a lot better, that’s for sure. I’ll tell you what, I know when Mark’s not there. He’s a big impact on our team. He’s probably our best player so you gotta give him the credit. He’s an unbelievable first baseman and I love having him there.”

“He’s doing everything to help the team win, man,” manager Bud Black concurred.

Momentarily the source of a bit of controversy, fans were in a steadily sustained panic about the imminent return of Ian Desmond.

For now, it hasn’t been much of a problem. Both Reynolds and Desmond have been getting plenty of playing time since the latter came off the disabled list, but things will keep getting tricky as the Rockies keep getting healthier.

“I’m trying to make a hard decision for those guys,” says Reynolds. “Luckily we don’t write the lineups. I’m just trying to make it hard on Buddy.”

Well, he has succeeded in that.

Reynolds has been the MVP for the NL West-leading Colorado Rockies (or at least he is right there with Charlie Blackmon). He is behind only Blackmon for the MLB lead in RBI at 42. He has shined with the leather and even on the base paths, showing off an acrobatic and clever slides at the plate to score runs in two close games.

In fact, Desmond and Reynolds — who could naturally be “enemies” or at least at odds — have taken quite a liking to working together.

“I would say this, he does ask me a lot of questions, about footwork positioning things like that. I can tell he wants to learn it,” Reynolds said. “I told him anything he needs I’m always here. I think the biggest adjustment for him is going to be knowing footwork around the bag and then knowing ground balls to your right, which ones to go get and which one’s not to that the second baseman will get. I came from third base and my reaction is to get everything. So I had to learn when to not go and get it. [Desmond] being a shortstop, he’s going to want and go grab everything too. So you just gotta figure it out. Know DJ [LeMahieu’s] range. It’s a lot easier for DJ to flip it to a first baseman than hitting the pitcher on the run.”

A tandem that could have created a rift has only brought Colorado further synergy.

And Reynolds says he doesn’t take anything that happened this past offseason personally. He doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder, and he doesn’t have anything to prove. He came back to Colorado because he thought he had a chance to help a good team be great. “Just trying tot take advantage of my opportunities,” he says.

Reynolds carried the team offensively through the first month of the season while guys like Carlos Gonzalez and Trevor Story struggled. Reynolds says that is just the nature of baseball and he was more than happy to do his part. “Very rare to have every single guy in your lineup clicking at the same time. CarGo’s starting to get some hits, [Pat] Valaika has come up big.”

He also wanted to make sure to give credit to the table-setters, “Charlie and DJ seem like they are on base every time I come up.”

Is there a better one-two punch in baseball to hit behind? I ask.

“Probably not, they’re pretty good,” says Reynolds.

***

The word “surprise” is making the rounds with the 2017 Colorado Rockies. Merited or not, the incredible production Reynolds has given the club has become the prime symbol of such a surprise. Reynolds began his career as a feast or famine hitter. Think Story. You got an extra base hit, a walk, or a home run, and that was usually it.

Reynolds reinvented himself right in the middle of his career, turning into a more reliable and consistent contact hitter who has learned to adjust his approach and hit an opposite field single every once in a while, especially with runners on base. This is why he is second in MLB in RBI. Not random luck. Not more opportunities. He is hitting .400 with runners in scoring position and .478 with two outs and runners in scoring position.

“How about the base hit to right? Dropping the barrel and going the other way?” says Black. “Mark is self-admitted that when he went to St. Louis in his primary role early on (as a bench player) I don’t want to say there was a transformation but he made changes from where he was in 2007 as a rookie to the year he was in St. Louis. From that point on, he has made changes in his approach game to game, at-bat to at-bat. What’s great is that what he did in the eighth, hit that ball 450 feet, and what he did in the middle of the game — line drive base hit to right — those are by design. He tried to hit the ball far in the eighth, he tried just to get a base hit in the fourth. He tried to do that, it wasn’t an accident. And if you asked him if he tried to do that in ’07, ’08, ’09, he’d probably say no. I think working with Jon Mabry in St. Louis there was a conscious effort to change.”

You won’t convince Black anytime soon that Reynolds’ production is because of luck, as he put it, it’s “by design.”

And this season has simply been a culmination of all the hard work Reynolds has put into redesigning himself into one of the best players in the game, despite being overlooked by just about everybody.

“I went over there [to St. Louis] as a bench player and your best chances are gonna be against guys throwing 100 late in games,” Reynolds says, continuing the train of thought that Black had started. “My swing is kinda in and out of the zone. Over the course of 600 at-bats you can kinda get away with that, cause you’re going to run into some mistakes. Being a pinch-hitter, you’ve got to find a way to put the ball in play and make something happen. It really changed my approach from all or nothing to keeping my barrel in the zone as long as I can and even if I get jammed just keep the barrel in the zone and make something happen. The way my timing is, I get in trouble if my head drifts a lot and my hips open first. There’s only one pitch I can hit, which is middle in. So I just try to stay through the middle of the field. I know it sounds cliche, but it’s what I’ve been trying to do the last couple of years it’s come together.”

Especially this year.

“It kind of started with my first at-bat of the year when I hit a home run that confidence snowball started rolling for me,” Reynolds said. “I’m trying to help this team as much as I can I know we have a very good team. It’s just like you saw me today staying relaxed, having fun. I think sometimes earlier in my career I would take everything very hard. The older I get the more I realize it’s just a game go out there and have fun with it.”

Well, Mark is clearly having fun. And with this team, he’s not alone.