Reynolds proving what a snub he was

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Every year the All-Star Game has one or two snubs, or players who deserved to be in, but were left out, whether it be because of lack of room, idiotic fan voting or a mixture of the two.

One of my favorite snubs this year has been Mark Reynolds, who had made a case for being the starting third baseman with his bat this spring and early summer, but ended up being forced to hope to be the last player voted in as part of the ridiculous final vote system Major League baseball has set up. Reynolds lost out to Shane Victorino - who needed to go door to door campaigning for votes and have radio stations have contests to see who could click his name the most in a 62-hour period to win the "honor" - and also came in behind Pablo Sandoval.

Now Reynolds is showing the baseball world how wrong they were to overlook him. Even with his team falling apart around him, Reynolds has still been one of the best power hitters in the game this season.

The one knock everyone pointed to in terms of Reynolds' game is his strikeouts. He was the first major leaguer in history to strike out 200 times and is on pace to do it again. However, he hits the ball often enough - and when he does, he does bad things to it - that the question has to be raised: Is it really that big of a deal? After all, Ryan Howard twice had 199 strikeouts and was an All Star and was actually considered for MVP both of those years. One of those seasons, he had those 199 in just 144 games. In his MVP season, he had over 180 K's. Bobby Bonds held the major league record for strikeouts for a long time and some, including Willie Mays, make the argument he should be in the Hall of Fame.

But forgetting all that, the bottom line is strikeouts or no strikeouts, Reynolds produces. Let's review. He's batting .281 with a .371 on base pecentage, both very respectable. His slugging percentage of .593 is third in the National League and his OPS is .964, which ranks fifth. He's second in the league in home runs with 48, just two behind the immortal Albert Pujols. His 84 RBI are eighth in the league and he's scored the sixth-most runs in the league, sitting at 81. Oh, he's also stolen 21 bases, which is good for ninth.

When a guy is hitting .281 and is on pace for 50 homers and 110 RBI with Miguel Montero batting behind you, he is raking. And since his All-Star snub, Reynolds seems to be a man on a mission. Since the break, Reynolds is batting at a .339 clip and leads the league in homers with 14 and his slugging percentage leads national league regulars at .732. Yep, that's a better SLG than every national league player that took part in the Midsummer Classic, including Albert Pujols.

You can't even use the excuse that he's getting aided by the warm Arizona air, because he's batting almost 15 points better on the road.

I hate to say I told you so, but Reynolds is shaping up to be the real deal. Hopefully next year fans will pay attention.