The first ever JM Mets blog joker of the week is: Jose Reyes
Trust me, I’m not happy about making Jose Reyes my first ever “Joker” but unfortunately the numbers don’t lie.
In 5 games and 22 ABs Reyes hit a paltry .091 and a .182 slugging percentage. Reyes had only 2 hits of which 1 of them was a triple. The worst part about this week to me is that Reyes didn’t draw any walks, so in a week where he obviously wasn’t feeling it, he only got on base 2 times. Not surprising at all, the MLB leader in stolen bases did not have any. All this being said, Los Mets only lost one game to the Reds and that was one that Reyes didn’t play. So somehow, it’s not affecting the team right now. Maybe the usual Reyes juice is being replaced by the newly healed PEDRO JUICE.
Over the past 30 days Reyes is batting .214 with a .313 slugging percentage in 112 ABs. He has only 24 total hits: 3 doubles, 1 triple, 2 HRs, 11 BBs and 10 SOs. He only has 3 RBIs in 30 days, not good at all.
What can explain these numbers? Why is it that a guy that has batted over .300 most of the past 2 seasons and was killing it early in the season, is not struggling to get on base and even worse, can’t seem to hit the ball on the ground anymore.
It’s not like he was in the HR derby over the all star break, and The Mets even brought aboard Rickey Henderson because Reyes praised him for his Spring training approach. Plus, Luis Castillo is the perfect number 2 hitter so you would think Reyes would have increased his numbers. Instead he is playing some of the worst ball he’s played since 2005, and it couldn’t come at a worse time.
If you ask me, Reyes is still having ill-affects from the June game in which Willie Randolph removed Jose from a game for not running out a ground ball. For some reason, it seems almost like the guy has been put on Ritalin. Many non-Mets fans complained about Reyes dancing and high flying high fivin‘. I personally loved it, and feel that’s what made Reyes Reyes. Take that away and you take away some of the spirit that makes many call him one of the most exciting players in the game.
Let’s just hope that whatever this funk that he’s in is, gets cleared up AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. If The Mets plan on going far into the playoffs, they’ll need Jose Reyes to play like the guy at the beginning of the season.
Until next time…
JM
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