2013 Toronto Blue Jays Reviews: Jose Reyes

Sep 29, 2013; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes (7) celebrates scoring in the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Rogers Centre. Tampa defeated Toronto 7-6. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

2013 Expectations

Blue Jays fans could argue which player was the bigger addition this past off season between RA Dickey and Jose Reyes. It’s a tough call to decide between the reigning Cy Young of the National League or one of the most exciting positional players in today’s game in Reyes.

Jose Reyes has been an all-star player who was expected to bring in leadership, defense, speed and a great leadoff hitter. The only fear Blue Jay fans had was injuries as Jose’s has had a history of hamstring injured and their was a fear he may not hold up in the dome and allow him to play close to 162 games this season.

If everything were to work out and Jose was able to play all 162 games, the expectations of fans had to be somewhere in the .300 BA, 45 SB, 12 HR, 60 RBI range.

2013 Reality

Jose Reyes came out on fire this season batting .395 through the first ten games with 5 Stolen Bases. He brought energy to the team while reeking havoc on the base pads. Unfortunately on April 12 it all came crashing down when he incurred a sever ankle sprain stealing second base on the road in Kansas City. This Ankle injury cost Jose Reyes two and a half months to recover and all of the injury fears the fan base had come true.

While away from the game recovering, Munenori Kawasaki came up to the big club and brought charisma to the team. While also a fan and clubhouse favorite, Munenori could never put up the numbers Jose could and it left a big hole in the batting order.

Jose made his long-awaited return to the club on June 26th and was able to stay healthy the rest of the season. The issue most fans had been is lack of desire to steal bases right away. It was clear he was afraid to steal as his first successful attempt didn’t come until July 5th and the slide was face fist (to avoid any ankle injury). Overall Jose finished the season with good numbers as he was able to maintain a sub .300 BA but unfortunately his SB numbers still did suffer as he finished the season with only 15.

Year   Age  Tm Lg   G  PA  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS

2012    29 MIA NL 160 716 642 86 184 37 12 11  57 40 11 63 56 .287 .347 .433 .780

2013    30 TOR AL  93 419 382 58 113 20  0 10  37 15  6 34 47 .296 .353 .427 .780

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/8/2013.

2014 Outlook

First I want to address the injury concern. Jose Ankle injury he suffered this season was more a fluke then a trend. Spraining ankles the way he did is something nobody can project and hence we should not expect a repeat in 2014. I was very pleased that his hamstrings held up in the dome so I hope fans can put this fear behind them.

Going into 2014 I think it’s fair to project what most fans expected in 2013

.300 BA, 45 SB, 12 HR, 60 RBI range.

Jose knows his speed will be a big part of the 2014 Blue Jays and as long as he gets on base he should be the most feared leadoff hitter in baseball. That will make life for the hitters behind him like Jose Bautista easier.

Note: All numbers and stats are from BaseballReference.com