José Reyes (infielder)

This article is about the New York Mets shortstop. For other persons with this name, see José Reyes (infielder) (disambiguation).

José Reyes
New York Mets – No. 7
Shortstop
Bats: Switch Throws: Right
debut
June 10, 2003, for the New York Mets
Career statistics (through August 10, 2008)
Batting Average	.336
Stolen Bases	283 stat3label=Hits
Triples	66
Home Runs	57
Runs Batted In	291
Teams
New York Mets (2003-present)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star (NL): (2006-2007) Silver Slugger (NL): (2006) Led NL in SB in 2005, 2006, 2007 Led NL in Triples in 2005, 2006 NY Mets All-Time Career Leader in Stolen Bases NY Mets All-Time Career Leader in Triples

José Bernabé Reyes (born June 11, 1983, in Villa Gonzalez, Dominican Republic) is an All-Star Major League Baseball shortstop for the New York Mets.

Reyes was born in Villa Gonzalez, Dominican Republic, and lives in Manhasset, New York. He is currently signed to the Mets with a four-year, $23.25 million contract that will run through the 2010 season with a team option for the 2011 season.

Reyes is perhaps best known for his speed and base-stealing ability. He led the league in triples in 2005 and 2006, and stolen bases 2005-7.

Major league career

2003: Rookie year

Reyes came up as a shortstop, but prior to the 2004 season, he was moved to second base upon the signing of Japanese star Kazuo Matsui to a major league contract. Matsui struggled both offensively and defensively however, and Reyes found himself back at the shortstop position before the end of the season. He hooked up with Kevin Gormley in the offseason to discuss how to approach power left handed pitchers.

2006 season

After winning Player of the Week honors in the National League for both the week of June 12-June 18 and the week of June 19-June 25, Reyes became the first Mets player to be named the National League player of the week for two consecutive weeks since Jesse Orosco accomplished the feat in 1983. During this two-week stretch Reyes collected 30 hits in 57 at-bats (a .526 batting average) and raised his season batting average from .246 to .302. Also during this stretch Reyes became the ninth Met in team history to hit for the cycle on June 21, 2006 in a 6-5 loss against the Cincinnati Reds at Shea Stadium.

Reyes showed similar improvement on the field: In 2005 Reyes led all National League shortstops in errors with 18. In 2006 he had the lowest range factor of all major league shortstops, 3.86.

Reyes' outgoing personality makes him a fan favorite in New York. He is well-known for the elaborate handshakes he creates with his teammates to celebrate runs scored. In his popular spots as "Professor Reyes," Reyes teaches the Shea Stadium faithful the Spanish language between innings on the stadium's Diamond Vision, helping to make him one of the Mets' most popular players.

On August 15, 2006, Reyes hit three home runs in an 11-4 loss against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Two days later, he became the second player in Mets history to record at least 50 stolen bases in consecutive seasons. On September 7, 2006, Reyes hit the first inside-the park home run of his career, against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Shea Stadium. Reyes was timed at 14.81 seconds for his dash around the bases.

Reyes at bat in July 2006 against the Houston Astros.

As the 2006 season wound down, Reyes was in pursuit of an unusual feat: reaching 20 home runs, 20 triples, 20 doubles, and 20 stolen bases. By season's end, he had eclipsed the totals for doubler offensive play earned him his first Silver Slugger Award.

Reyes finished the 2006 regular season with an average of .300, 19 HR, 81 RBIs, 122 Runs, and 64 SB, and increased his on-base percentage 54 points, and his slugging percentage almost 100 points over 2005.

The 2006 Mets clinched their spot in the playoffs, and Reyes experienced the postseason for the first time in his career. Reyes made his playoff debut on October 4, 2006 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2006 National League Division Series. Though he hit just .167 for the series, he came up big in key situations, scoring the winning run in Game 1, driving in the go-ahead run in Game 2, and knocking in the game-tying run in the 6th inning of Game 3. In Game 6 of the 2006 National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals and facing elimination, Reyes hit a leadoff home run in the first inning to jump start his team and help force a deciding Game 7, which the Mets lost 3-1.

2007 season

Controversy struck Reyes on July 6th, 2007, in a game against the Houston Astros in the top of the 8th inning. After hitting a ball down the third base line, Reyes, thinking the ball had gone foul, did not run to first base, resulting in Astros third baseman Mike Lamb jogging across the infield and flipping the ball to the first basemen for the easy out. Mets manager Willie Randolph immediately pulled Reyes from the game.

After this, towards the end of the 2007 season, Reyes earned himself a reputation for not running out plays. In the second to last game of the season, Reyes hit a ball that rolled weakly down the first base side, which he presumed to be foul. However, the Marlins' catcher, Matt Treanor, jumped into foul territory and snagged the ball, before it bounced foul and threw Reyes out at first. Reyes ended the play after taking just four steps from the batter's box. The next day, with the team down 8-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Reyes made the second out of the inning with a ground out to second base. Even in his final plate appearance of the year, he failed to run hard down the first base line.

On July 12, 2007, Reyes hit the ninth leadoff home run of his career, against Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo, setting a new record for the franchise.

In August, when Reyes stole his 50th base of the year, he became the first New York baseball player to steal 50 or more bases in 3 consecutive seasons.

On August 22, 2007, Reyes stole his 65th, 66th, and 67th bases and broke Roger Cedeño's Mets record for most stolen bases in a single season.

In August 2007, Reyes tied the Mets record for stealing at least one base in four straight games putting him over 70 stolen bases on the season. Reyes credits his base-stealing abilities to Rickey Henderson, the first base coach hired prior to 2007 to help Reyes read pitchers, recognize pitches, etc. Henderson was no stranger to stealing bases himself, setting the major league record with 130 stolen bases in a season. Reyes was a key player for the Mets during the season.

In the last month of the season, Reyes' struggles were a key component to the Mets historic collapse. He batted .205 and had an OBP of only .279. His struggles brought much criticism from the fans.

Reyes on the cover of MLB 2K8.

2008 season

In spring training and the early part of the 2008 season, Reyes vocalized a plan to focus a little more on baseball, and a little less on the theatrics involving things like his dugout dances after home runs, that drew criticism during the late part of 2007 when the Mets weren't winning. One of the casualties of this change of focus was the Professor Reyes segment played between innings at Shea where he taught the fans some Spanish words and phrases. This has been replaced by Maine Street USA with John Maine, and a Do The Wright Thing segment with David Wright, which so far haven't lived up to the popularity of Professor Reyes' Spanish Academy. However, with some prodding by his teammates, Reyes was encouraged to continue playing with the same energy as he had before . Jose Reyes is widely considered one of the best shortstops currently in the game.

On July 20, Reyes legged a one-out triple in the fourth inning in a game versus the Cincinnati Reds. The triple was the sixty-third of his career and as a Met, beating out Mookie Wilson in the Mets all-time triples list.

On September 10, Reyes broke the Mets all-time record for stolen bases that was also previously held by Wilson, with his 282nd career stolen base coming in the third inning against the Washington Nationals. After stealing second to break the record, he then stole third and scored the go-ahead run on a single by Wright.

During the season, Jose Reyes' childhood friend Argenis Reyes (no relation) was called up from Triple A New Orleans Zephyrs. When Argenis played, he and Jose made up the middle infield for the Mets, as Argenis Reyes played second base.

Reyes is also considered to be one of the biggest All-Star snubs of the 2008 MLB season.

Media

Reyes was in Hector El Father's music video Pa' La Tumba.

Reyes was announced as the new cover athlete for Major League Baseball 2K8 from 2K Sports, taking over for crosstown New York Yankees counterpart Derek Jeter. Reyes is also the cover athlete for the Nintendo DS spinoff, Major League Baseball 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars, albeit in cartoon form.

Contract

During the 2006 season, Reyes signed a four-year contract extension with the Mets, thus avoiding salary arbitration.

Reyes received a $1.5 million signing bonus. During the contract, his salary will be:

• 2007 - $2 million
• 2008 - $4 million
• 2009 - $5.75 million
• 2010 - $9 million
• 2011 - $11 million
• 2012 - $13 million

The contract includes an $11 million option for 2011, with a buy out of $500,000 if the Mets do not pick up the option.

Statistics

Year	Age	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+	TB	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP	VORP
2003	20	New York	NL	69	274	47	84	12	4	5	32	13	3	13	36	.307	.334	.434	102	119	2	3	0	0	1	18.3
2004	21	New York	NL	53	220	33	56	16	2	2	14	19	2	5	31	.255	.271	.373	65	82	4	0	0	0	1	2.6
2005	22	New York	NL	161	696	99	190	24	17	7	58	60	15	27	78	.273	.300	.386	81	269	4	4	0	2	7	22.1
2006	23	New York	NL	153	647	122	194	30	17	19	81	64	17	53	81	.300	.354	.487	115	315	2	0	6	1	6	58.8
2007	24	New York	NL	160	681	119	191	36	12	12	57	78	21	77	78	.280	.354	.421	103	287	5	1	13	1	6	46.2
2008	25	New York	NL	142	614	100	184	34	18	13	56	49	14	60	71	.300	.360	.477	121	293	5	3	7	0	8	58.1
Totals:				738	3132	520	899	152	70	58	298	283	72	235	375	.287	.336	.436	101	1365	22	11	26	4	29	206.1

Roll over stat abbreviations for definitions. Stats through September 12, 2008.

Awards and recognition

• 2001 - Low A All-Star SS
• 2001 - New York Mets Minor League Player of the Year
• 2002 - Baseball America 1st team Minor League All-Star SS
• 2002 - New York Mets Minor League Player of the Year
• 2002 - Eastern League All-Star SS, Florida State League All-Star SS, Futures Game All-Star MVP
• 2003 - 8th Place in NL Rookie of the Year voting
• 2006 - NL Silver Slugger Award for shortstops
• 2006 - 7th place for NL MVP Award with 108 points.
• 2006 - Selected as the starting shortstop for the 2006 All-Star Game. He was replaced in the starting lineup by Edgar Rentería and on the roster by David Eckstein after injuring his hand prior to the game.
• 2006 - Participated in the Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series along with teammates John Maine and David Wright. He finished the series with a 2-run walk-off home run in Game 5 which gave the U.S.A. their first sweep of Japan.
• 2007 - National League Player of the Month Award for April.
• 2007 - National League All-Star

See also

• Hitting for the cycle
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
• List of Major League Baseball triples champions
• Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• ArmchairGM player page
• SportsNet player page