Arizona Diamondbacks Jack Reinheimer Showing Promise
Jack Reinheimer of the Arizona Diamondbacks stands in the on-deck circle in Scottsdale
The Arizona Fall League is used for a number of reasons. The typical answer is that a player has missed some time during the regular season and this is a chance for them to get in some extra work in game action before next year. Some use it to showcase players that will become Rule 5 eligible in the hopes of making a trade before the draft in December. The Arizona Diamondbacks look to be using the Fall League this season to help in the development of their farmhands, and a number of names are standing out, including Jack Reinheimer.
Reinheimer was selected in the 5th round of the 2013 draft by the Seattle Mariners and came to the Diamondbacks with fellow Fall Leaguer Gabriel Guerrero in the Mark Trumbo deal last June. Reinheimer, plays a mix of shortstop and second base while most believe that he is better at the six, which hard hard to argue with the glove work that he displayed last night in Scottsdale.
Reinheimer has displayed his defensive prowess all week in Arizona handling the tough plays and showing off some range. This season’s MLB leader in range factor (how much range a player has at their position) at short was Elvis Andrus of the Rangers at 4.90. By comparison, Baseball Reference has Reinheimer with a career 4.71 mark in three minor league seasons which would have ranked him between Andrelton Simmons of Atlanta (4.78) and Brandon Crawford of the Giants (4.63) in the majors in 2015, or 4th overall.
Offensively Reinheimer’s stat line doesn’t jump out at you like Carlos Correa or Francisco Lindor‘s might, but he did manage to hit .270 with 5 home runs and 42 RBI in 2015 between Double-A stops with both clubs. The key for the 23-year-old has been his eye at the plate, as he managed to work 51 walks last season en route to a .342 on-base percentage, just a tick below his career mark of .344.
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Reineheimer will have a tough time sticking in the big leagues in Arizona with 2015 #1 overall pick Dansby Swanson projected for a 2018 debut by MLB Pipeline, and Reinheimer likely another season in the minors away from his own debut. This leaves a few options for Reinheimer. The first is that he acts as a stop-gap between Nick Ahmed and Swanson over the next couple of seasons while the second is as a backup infielder with some upside. The last option would be to move him, but this is the least likely of the trio, at least at this time.
True to form, Reinheimer is batting .224 with a .377 OBP in the Fall League with a double and four driven in.