"Goodness gracious great balls of fire! That's the thirteenth strikeout of the day for Alex Reyes!"
MLB.com's 83rd prospect Alex Reyes, who was signed out of the Dominican Republic by the St. Louis Cardinals as a 17-year-old in 2012 after playing three seasons at a New Jersey high school, has been one of the best strikeout machines in Minor League baseball since making his professional debut two years ago with Johnson City (Rookie).
From a 6-4 first season with a 3.39 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 58.1 innings, Reyes' fastball/curveball combo continued to make his opposition look silly by fanning 1.25 Midwest League (Single-A) batters per inning the following season. Although strikeouts did not lower the right hander's ERA or walks per nine innings in 2014, all elements have come together this season.
2015 could not have started out any better for Reyes as he struck out a total of 20 batters in his first two starts of the seasons with Palm Beach (Single-A Advanced). Yet the 20-year-old was not only striking batters out, but putting zeros in the box score. In fact, St. Louis' number three prospect was able to throw 15.2 innings of scoreless baseball in the month of April. After the first month of the season, Reyes only continued to showcase his talent, which was greatly emphasized in a 13 strikeout, two earned run, six inning performance prior to suffering a non-game shoulder injury that kept the starter out of the 2015 Florida State League All-Star Game, in addition to the 2015 All-Star Futures Game.
Upon his return, the New Jersey native only needed two, three inning starts. One with the GCL Cardinals (Rookie) and another for Palm Beach, to prove to St. Louis' General Manager John Mozeliak he was completely healthy and worthy of a promotion to Double-A Springfield.
So, St. Louis Cardinals' fans be sure to keep the Springfield Cardinals' in mind tomorrow as the future ace of the "Gateway to the West" will take on Kansas City Royals' top prospect and MLB.com's 31st ranked prospect Raul Mondesi Jr. and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals in Springfield, Missouri, at 7:10 PM Eastern Standard Time.