Alex Reyes, RP, St. Louis Cardinals
This 26-year-old righty has been absolutely unhittable this year. Across 21 innings, Reyes has only surrendered 8 hits compared to allowing 14 hits in 19 ⅔ innings pitched in 2020. Interestingly, Reyes has put up these stellar numbers despite an uptick in BB/9 (6.4 in 2020 and 8.1 in 2021) and a slight dip in his K/9 ratio.
Reyes was solid in his age-25 2020 season. He finished the year by only allowing 7 earned runs (10 total) while striking out 27 and walking 14 for the St. Louis Cardinals. Entering this year, Reyes has taken on a more meaningful role and has finished all 19 games he appeared in thus far while striking out 28 and amassing 11 saves over 21 innings. He wasn’t all that bad last year but his step forward this year has been tremendous. Reyes’ Cardinals currently sit in first place in the NL Central with a 23-18 record.
Although Reyes has had a stellar season, his faltering command is a sign of things to come; possibly. I would not be surprised to see Reyes come back to Earth especially since he’s allowing walks at a much more frequent rate than his previous three seasons in the major leagues.
Reyes becomes another reliever to be added to the five surprising MLB pitchers in 2021.