St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Alex Reyes made his major-league debut against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium, and the right-hander didn’t waste any time showing why Baseball America ranked him the second-best prospect in baseball on their midseason top-100 prospects list.
Reyes entered the game out of the bullpen in the top of the ninth, and the first batter he faced was 2016 NL All-Star Adam Duvall. All Reyes did was strikeout Duvall with a 101 mph fastball, to start a 1-2-3 inning.
Videos of Reyes showing off filthy stuff:
.@AlexReyes_67 with that nasty hook. https://t.co/sMfAmAOs7x
— MLB (@MLB) August 10, 2016
Reyes’ 101 mph fastball was the hardest pitch thrown by the Cardinals all season:
Alex Reyes threw the hardest pitch of the year for the @Cardinals in his first outing. 101.13 MPH 🔥🔥🔥
— Daren Willman (@darenw) August 10, 2016
The 21-year-old is just temporarily pitching out of the bullpen to help the Cardinals in that department, but he’s a starting pitching prospect. You get a good idea of why the Cardinals think he can help their bullpen now though, as he can let it all go out for an inning or two, and hitting 101 mph fastballs is hard.
Reyes is far from a finished product as his Triple-A season at Memphis has shown; he had a 4.96 ERA down there, thanks largely to command issues (4.41 walks/9 innings pitched). But, that arm talent is undeniable, and if he can improve that command, he really looks like he could be a frontline starter down the road.
For now, Reyes will serve as a flamethrower out of the Cardinals’ bullpen, and could be a key weapon for St. Louis as they try to make the postseason. St. Louis will enter play on Wednesday 12 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, but just one game behind the Miami Marlins for the second NL Wild Card slot.
[MLB]
