San Diego Padres: Franmil Reyes is Progressing Nicely

The San Diego Padres’ young outfielder is slowly finding his way after a tough start to his MLB career. Let’s hope this continues.

At the time Franmil Reyes hit his first major-league home run for the San Diego Padres he was hitting .118 across the board (.118 on-base percentage, .118 slugging percentage) in seventeen at-bats.

It was an extremely small sample size, but some were led to believe that Reyes wouldn’t spend much time at this level before heading back to Triple-A El Paso. He quickly set aside any doubts that any of us may have had.

Since that first home run on May 21 in Washington, the 20-year-old has been consistently getting better and has looked increasingly more confident in his skills and worlds more comfortable in his surroundings.

Reyes hit .231/.333/.462 from that game until May 27 (fifteen plate appearances), showing progress in a few areas. He drew the first two walks of his young career and looked visibly calmer at the plate. To be honest, he looked as if he was about to explode onto the MLB scene.

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Reyes does just that…

The Franimal hit his second career tater on May 28, the first of four games versus the Miami Marlins last week.

The Fish would end up getting to know the Dominican native pretty well by the end of the series.

Over the first three games, Reyes hit .300/.364/1.200 in ten at-bats. All three of his hits were home runs and were all magnificent. He struck out four times and only walked once, but the legend was born.

We’ve all seen or heard about Reyes’ incredible home run streak in the minors earlier this season. We know what types of impressive runs this young man has the potential to go on.

Seemingly, all it took for Reyes to shed any feelings of unfamiliarity or self-doubt that he may have had after making his debut was to see for himself that he could hit at this level.

Even though he went 0-for-4 in the last game of the Miami series, Franmil Reyes has gotten right back to work now that the calendar has flipped to June.  He’s got four hits in seven at-bats this month and has only struck out once.

What’s next for Reyes

Now that Hunter Renfroe is back in the outfield rotation, making his unofficial return with the towering grand slam he hit on Sunday, that doesn’t necessarily spell doom for Reyes’ time with the big club. His power potential alone should keep him on the Padres’ roster as a bench piece/pinch-hitter, at least.

The dimension Franmil Reyes brings to the San Diego Padres’ clubhouse (take a look at Eric Hosmer‘s face and body language whenever the big guy hits a dinger; tell me that’s not pure joy) and the jaw-dropping awe he brings to the fans when he really connects on said dingers, could end up being the most valuable asset he brings to the table.

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If he can keep bringing his average up, take some more bases-on-balls, and continue to cut down on the strikeouts, what a wrinkle he would add in late-summer, early-autumn if the Friars keep winning and find themselves in a hunt for the postseason.