It appears that Cardinals righty Alex Reyes is once again threatened by the potential of a season-ending injury. Mark Saxon of The Athletic tweets that Reyes is heading to St. Louis for another round of imaging and examinations on his ailing right pectoral muscle, adding that it “appears as if his 2019 season is over.”
Reyes, 25 later this month, has been limited to just 40 1/3 innings in 2019 — only three of which came at the MLB level. He hasn’t pitched in a game since a June 23 outing and hasn’t appeared in the Majors since April 5. At the time of the injury, it was announced as a pectoral strain that was only expected to cost Reyes two to three starts, but manager Mike Shildt said Wednesday that Reyes’ arm didn’t respond well to a bullpen session this week (Twitter link via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
If Reyes is indeed shut down for the season, it’ll mark a third straight season for Reyes that has been virtually wiped out by injury. He didn’t pitch at all in 2017 due to Tommy John surgery, was limited to 26 innings last year thanks largely to surgery to repair a tendon in his lat muscle and has now only totaled 40 1/3 frames in 2019. Reyes is among the most highly touted pitching prospects in recent memory and was at one point hailed as a potential ace in the making, but he’s never even reached a total of 115 innings in a season between the Majors and minors combined.
The latest setback for Reyes comes at a poor time, as St. Louis has dropped four consecutive games after choosing not to add to its rotation at the trade deadline. Michael Wacha is currently holding the fifth spot in the rotation, but he’s lost that job twice already in 2019 and pitched poorly in his return to a starting role in his last outing.
Among internal alternatives, lefty Genesis Cabrera has struggled in the upper minors and in a pair of MLB starts. Right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon made a handful of solid outings earlier this season but didn’t complete four innings in any of his three most recent starts. Lefty Austin Gomber, also on the 40-man roster, has been sidelined since mid-May. Adding depth in August is harder than ever before, and the Cardinals’ record is better than that of fellow postseason hopefuls in Milwaukee, New York, Arizona, San Francisco and Cincinnati, which lessens the likelihood of a palatable option making it to St. Louis on outright waivers.
Alex Reyes proving that is is always better to be a has-been than a never-was.
It’s better to have been good then to never be good
Just like Cardinal who team and organization.
Is a person is out for the season nine years in a row, is he still eligible for the Hall of Fame?
the dictionary definition of “glass cannon” refrences Alex Reyes
I’ll take proven over prospect every day. Good luck in your next career, Alex. Sucks that’s how this likely ends for you.
Time to move on.
Bust-ed.
Man this guy seems to be hurt all the time.
Who fault is that, not the player? Cardinals let him pitch when he was not 100 % this is the result.
Reyes was pitching great last year after working back from TJ surgery. He seemed healthy, then suddenly he wasn’t. He should have stopped pitching when he first felt the issue, but he tried to power through it.
I understand…it is hard to quit because something hurts if you are competitive. But he is also responsible (also for punching a wall…) for failing to recognize he was injured.
Time for Reyes to find another career. His body simply cannot hold up to the rigors of pro baseball.
go to another team and he would be fin
Unfortunately-larry48— you are probably more correct than you actually think you are.
Steve, you made a mistake in the first paragraph. You said Saxon is headed to St. Louis for another round of imaging and examinations. It should have said Reyes.
Maybe the reporter needed an MRI.
It’s proven once again…building with position players and buying/trading for healthy/proven pitching is the way to go in today’s game. So many teams have this great young pitching coming up but rarely does it pan out as expected. The Cub fans know this all too well from the Wood-Prior-Zambrano days.
Proven how? I guess you have to tank in order for this to be proven
TINSTAAPP
What!!??
“There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect”
Clayton Kershaw
This is becoming a tragic story. This kid has ALL the talent in the world but his body is preventing him from doing great things. Maybe when he returns, convert him into a late inning reliever.
Best wishes Reyes.
Maybe they can have his head examined as well. Should’ve happened after he punched a hole in the wall and missed a few weeks early in the season.
He’ll get every opportunity to make it back under Mozeliak. They’ve hyped him up as a first round talent(int fa signing) and gives them one more reason to stick with the winning formula the past 3+ seasons of going with the in house talent rather than dealing at the deadline.
Gotta stick with him now and hope his body can hold up next year.
They called me Mr. Glass
Knowing Mo,he will trade low, again…getting Jacoby Ellsbury in return.
Alex Reyes meet Jamieson Taillon. Two star crossed promising RHPs.
Ouch. hate to say mind mind went in the same direction, as a Pirates fan :(
But man “he’s never even reached a total of 115 innings in a season between the Majors and minors combined” is just brutal. Jamo’s had his turns of bad luck and health issues no doubt but every year except his very first professional season, the TJ years and this year he’s pitched at least that many innings. I gotta hope some day Alex Reyes can say the same, or if he finds himself in a bullpen role or something can stay healthy and successful. Never like seeing players with all the potential in the world beaten down by injury, but that’s the nature of sports, I guess. People get hurt.
Teams should do Drug testing using Hair Follicle analysis before ever drafting a pitcher. Hair follicles retain evidence of drug use long after steroids and other drugs leave the bloodstream, so if the rampant use pf steroids in the Latin America countries, where it is easy to obtain steroids, could be drastically reduced if the young players are busted before they ever sign and are suspended for a year or two before ever leaving the island. Steroids are notorious causes of injuries, when muscle growth out-performs the joint and ligament limits of the human body. All agents in the Latin countries should also be Vetted like FBI and CIA officers are in this country, and weeded out when discovered to have given steroids to prospects. This is still rampant in the Dominican, Puerto Rico, Cuba, etc, and causes a lot of these young flamethrowers to burn the career out before it ever gets started. Teach these kids how to pitch, instead of how to throw 100+ MPH, and we will see a lot less of these tragedies.
UMMMMM are you trying to attitribute his injuries to getting suspended for weed – NOT any type of PED – once? He’s never been linked with PEDs and frankly your rant about this because he’s Latin American smacks of racism.
And for what it’s worth, it’s beyond easy to google that he’s Dominican American and the reason he moved to his family’s home country for a year in order to attract attention as an international free agent is because of how restrictive the current system is to kids whose families don’t have money. SO maybe if you wanna go on a rant about issues affecting young players as it pertains to Alex Reyes, maybe you should rant about that!
Man… I gotta say between Reyes injuries and tragically losing Tavares the Cards and baseball in general has missed out on possibly watching 2 of the brightest young stars play. I hope Reyes can get right because when he is he is just filthy
VERY OBVIOUS MO AND HIS PET MONKEY NUST GO !
Nust they?
Just wonderful!