Flushing University: Himelfarb: Jose Reyes is New York’s most unfair Scapegoat

Well, outside of Arthur Shawcross’ mother...I guess so.

Still, Mets fans still like to bash him for his makeup and all those blatantly stupid plays in the field and believe it has been holding him back from realizing his full potential. Dayton Moore, the General Manager of the Kansas City Royals, likes to say that, to succeed in baseball, you must have intelligence, integrity, and passion. But should we not remember that we are talking about the same kid who battled incessant injuries, could not hit any other pitch aside from a fastball, and was inept at getting on base from 2003-2005, and is now one of the best offensive shortstops in baseball?

More importantly, from a more analytical standpoint, Mets fans seem incapable of appreciating Reyes’s value and how to best go about exploiting it. Reyes’s disappointing defensive performance thus far has almost certainly taken its’ toll on his value, but offensively, his OBA (on-base average), is second only to Hanley Ramirez among National League shortstops. In addition, while his pitch selection is still questionable, Reyes’s P/PA numbers since 2004 have always been from the 3.5-3.7 area, and his numbers with RISP (.260/.368/.448) and with men-on (.280/.383/.465), are largely in line with his total numbers this year (.304/361/.490). Instead of prodding him to hit more ground balls as Randolph and co. suggested this year (when in fact there is little correlation between that and his overall success), Reyes is, like most if not any other hitter, most successful when hitting line drives.